Why are we obsessed with Frida Kahlo? Over the past several decades her popularity has soared. She is one of the most famous female artists in the world, instantly recognizable due to her thrilling self-portraits. Her fame has eclipsed that of her husband, mural painter Diego Rivera, who at the…
Steve was a modern day Renaissance Man. On our first date I learned he was a graduate of the culinary institute Johnson & Wales, and a chef at a prestigious seaside French restaurant (read about my coffee enlightenment here). A gifted pianist, his apartment was stuffed with the requisite keyboards…
As a child*, I listened in fear at the end of the Cold War.Adults spoke defiantly, as each new threshold was reached in Space by US or THEM. Who are THEY, I wondered? They are Soviets. My teachers taught me fear for many years.I wondered, are the Soviet children afraid…
When I was a kid, all activity in my house stopped when the Olympics came along. In those days, we had to wait four long years for a double-header of Summer and Winter events scheduled tightly within several months. We gathered in front of our flickering black and white television,…
In short, an olla (OY-A) is a clay-pot watering tool, invented thousands of years ago by people who lived in arid climates to water their crops. Unglazed terra cotta pots with small openings were inserted into holes in the ground. Water poured into the pot would slowly seep into the…
Making Micro-Climates During the pandemic, I, like everyone else, was stuck in my house, using the internet as a tool to learn. My mother had just died, and I was getting used to the idea of making decisions about my childhood home, which included over seven acres of land –…
When I had my DNA tested several years ago, I was disappointed that there was no scientific trace of Native American ancestry, as family legend claimed there was. (This is a common myth in many New England families; I think it comes from a desire to be legitimately attached to…