I suppose I could write one of those end of year lists. But I'm not together enough to list top ten movies or top ten books. Do you keep track? Maybe list-making is something to try first thing in the morning when more energy zips through my brain. What can I even remember about this …
Have you ever been in an abandoned house? In 2001, This American Life told a fascinating story of a house whose family disappeared. And certainly, even if we don't venture inside, we've all seen houses that appear abandoned. Do you ever wonder what's inside? What happened? Why do people just leave so many things? Sometimes …
Way back in the very early 80s, Mom took me on a day trip to hang out at a beach town with friends of hers. The memory has faded, but we had fun, and on the way back home, I said or asked something about the women we'd hung out with that made my mother …
I took pictures of sunflowers from a train window. I was in Bulgaria, and it was 1994. The train cut through a sea of sunflowers, and I'd never seen anything like it. The pictures were blurry, of course. A moving train makes for unsteady photographs. This picture was taken on the side of the road …
My mom told me I learned my color wheel before I learned my ABCs. It surprises me now how I struggle to use color in my work now. In a high school art class, we had to draw a scene and then paint it. I loved my pencil drawing. It was of my best friend …
Home To be honest, I don't think my dad has any connection to the summer solstice. He isn't one to take note of such days. He's a quiet Catholic. He never talks about his beliefs and hasn't been to mass in 40 years. About ten years ago, I saw that he'd sent a check to …
Mom / 1944-1989 This morning, I read this article by Rebecca Solnit about the many conflicted emotions wrapped up in Mother's Day. Right at the start she says something that reminds me of conversations I had with my own mom. "Half our holidays are punitive, at least for those left out of what the the …
There was a large spider on the floor-length curtains. Large is relative, of course. I'd say it was about the size of the palm of your hand. I've told this story before, but this is in case you missed it. And the point this time is different. I was probably five or six. Before this …
A home that caught my eye in Salem. Definitely not the house I grew up in. In grad school, I had a final exam with a one word question. We had to write about this one word. (For the life of me, I can't remember how much time were were given, but it was at …
One more story. This is from before I was born. It is something my mother told me. My dad bought the house before they were married in 1965. He built his first dock. It proved lower than it should've been because soon after, the water level rose. About an inch of water covered the dock's …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 