At the age of 42, I finally read one of the most renowned 20th century novels in the young adult sci-fi category. Pretty much anyone my age or younger who has ever been a little geeky has read Ender’s Game. I’ve certainly been known to be a little geeky, but my tastes ran to the…
Author: kittyireland
Paying attention to attention, psychology, habits, art, writing, literature, mysteries, nonsense, addiction, humanism, humor and cake.
The thing about Iceland is…
I just visited Iceland for the first time, and it was every bit as stunning as I’d imagined. It definitely falls into the “a nice place to visit” category for me. One of my Pacific Northwest quirks is a penchant for large trees, deciduous trees, forests… foliage in general. The lichen-covered lunar landscape doesn’t quite…
The End of the Story… Or Is It?
In grandma’s 1942 diary, she added a note on February 6, 1944. Up til the first part of June this book might as well not be — the 1st part just disgusts me — then came June — Zip — The Chicken Coop + good times + August + Zip again — I loved him — (maybe…
A love story with missing pieces
This week I received the final batch of letters from Zip to my grandma, all the way up to August, 1945. It’s been heart-wrenching to read them. They’re not so much love letters as they are loneliness and longing letters. Zip wasn’t one for the “mushy stuff” as grandma complained in one of her diary…
A love story with missing pieces
This week I received the final batch of letters from Zip to my grandma, all the way up to August, 1945. It’s been heart-wrenching to read them. They’re not so much love letters as they are loneliness and longing letters. Zip wasn’t one for the “mushy stuff” as grandma complained in one of her diary…
Thirty Years
Thirty years ago today, life as I knew it ended. The last night of my childhood was frosty and silent. A deep cold that settled into bones. Today I sat down and read grandma’s final diary: October 9 – November 28, 1983. It’s the same as all of her diaries, an accounting of comings and…
Letters from Zip
I admit it, when I got a packet of photocopied letters from my grandma’s first love on my birthday last weekend, I was a bit giddy. I’ve been transcribing grandma’s diary from 1942, and thereby living through the terrible longing for Zip… for letters from Zip… for anything Zip. I felt like — FINALLY —…
Musings on Mortality, Mindfulness, and Meaning
We’re all going to die. Today 50 people died in a plane crash in Russia. Most likely none of them expected to die today. They were idly anticipating a dreary airport and lost luggage — maybe a reunion with someone waiting below. And then something went terribly wrong. We all secretly expect to go on…
Trapped in 1942
For the past few months I’ve been painstakingly transcribing my grandma’s diary from 1942. I say painstakingly because, wow, that girl had some undecipherable handwriting. I have a small advantage because I taught myself to write by tracing her grocery shopping lists in the mid-1970s. Her handwriting never improved, it just got more… mature. Grandma…
Café Nordo and David Lynch
For the second time this year I went to experience an evening of strangeness and fine cuisine courtesy of the mysterious Chef Nordo. This time around, Café Nordo set up shop in the cabaret area of Theater Off Jackson (formerly Canoe Social Club). My previous Nordo experience was in the shambling old Washington Hall, divided…
Plumb Wonderful 