Category: Uncategorized
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Recombobulation
Returning at 2 am early Tuesday morning, 26 July, from a long weekend with family in Wisconsin, I am too travel-weary to do much more than open windows—the house closed up over the very hot five days of my absence was 87o when I walked in. I turn on the bedroom ac, shower, text of…
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Getting rid of things
F. Scott Fitzgerald, master of concluding cadences, finishes his short story “Three Hours Between Planes” (Esquire, July 1941) with this phrase embedded in his final sentence: “the second half of life is a long process of getting rid of things.” Nearly paralyzed by the prospect of sorting through and discarding the accumulated stuff of two…
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The Fourth of July
It is the Fourth of July, and I am having trouble concentrating. My setup for a dinner party to begin at 6.30 is complete—beer and wine cooling, the New York Times’s Juneteenth peach-molasses chicken soon to be grilled, the salads made and strawberry-rhubarb cobbler baked. I’ve prepped the staging area for fireworks later, and loaded…
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Southern Sojourn Day 19: 31 May 2022 Narberth PA > Madbury NH
My final travel day is a long one, though it begins well enough with coffee at the GET café in downtown Narberth, a short walk from Ann and Barry’s home. The café is staffed by disabled workers who work carefully, deliberately, and cheerfully to get every order right, and after a couple of attempts, they…
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Southern Sojourn Day 17: 29 May 2022 Williamsburg VA > Narberth PA
Driving from Sandy’s through heavy traffic ‘round the District I am more than ever grateful for Google assistance with navigation—certainly a godsend for a solo driver in a strange land. In the late afternoon, I arrive in Narberth, a suburb of Philadelphia on the historic Pennsylvania Main Line with a population of 4,304, one of…
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Southern Sojourn Day 16: 28 May 2022 Colonial Williamsburg > Jamestown
After breakfast, Sandy drives me to Colonial Williamsburg—CW to the cognoscenti—where she is In Her Element, and gives me a private tour emphasizing two ongoing archaeological excavations. The first, “Custis Square,” is uncovering the physical evidence left behind by (1) John Custis IV, father-in-law to Martha Washington, whose first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, was John’s…
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Southern Sojourn Day 15: 27 May 2022 Greensboro NC > Williamsburg VA
I’ve visited my friend Sandy in Williamsburg before, but previously approached from the north. This time, my path is from the south, much more rural, and at one point driving the increasingly flat and fertile terrain I get stuck at a railroad crossing as a long freight train proceeds slowly, almost to its caboose, and…
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Southern Sojourn Day 14: 26 May 2022 Greensboro NC
My final day in Greensboro began again with yoga, followed by a drive around three different senior living facilities, all of them massive. Provisions for aging boomers abound, it seems, particularly in the South; retirement communities are legion. Cameron is considering another move to a place that would best accommodate and provide for the final…
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Southern Sojourn Day 13: 25 May 2022 Greensboro NC
For the first time since leaving home, I take time to do my accustomed morning yoga routine on the soft living room carpet while Cameron practices her violin behind me. This feels very good, both the stretching and the company. Then Cameron drives us to the huge YMCA downtown, where after filling out a rather…
Georgeann Murphy 