Bird nerd

I’ve always been a bit of a nerd. But it wasn’t until recently that I learned I’m not just any kind of nerd… I’m a bird nerd.

Yes, the woman whose only prior experience with birds involved those rats with wings they call pigeons in Boston, is now a full blown, hopelessly besotted backyard bird nerd. (more…)

Lunar romance

The mind is a prickly beast.

It disbelieves almost everything the heart believes. It takes the heart to task for being foolish. It demands that we ignore feelings in favor of facts.

To a large extent, this is a good thing. We can’t run around willy-nilly to the whims of a red, thumping reactionary like the heart. Much wiser to follow the gray, humming pragmatism of the brain. (more…)

A bastion for the blues

Since moving to Southwest Florida nearly three years ago, I’ve been looking for an unpretentious place where you can kick back a bit and maybe take in some live music that doesn’t invoke Lionel Ritchie. It’s a lot easier said than done. (more…)

The nerve of some dames

She’s got some nerve, that Helen Mirren. Wins all the major acting awards, shows up at the Oscars looking hot. Puts the 50, 40, and 30-somethings all to shame. And the 20-year olds? They looked like so much fluffy cotton candy about to float away next to Mirren’s rock-solid, sensual self.

Helen Mirren, a bona fide Dame, is 61 years old and looks every year of it, but in the best possible way.

She’s the woman I want to be … at any age. (more…)

Got guts?

Barack Obama appears to be willing to speak truthfully, to live transparently to a certain degree, and that takes guts. And I like that.

I like the fact that Obama smoked dope, admits it, and doesn’t do it now. That tells me that he’s pretty much like an awful lot of other people in the United States. (more…)

The difference between disloyalty and dissent

Friday, September 27, 2006. High Tea with Sandy and Vern Buchanan. At the Ritz. With extra-special guest, Laura Bush.

“Responsible candidates understand that the men and women of our military are risking their lives for us overseas, and that we must conduct our debate here at home in a way that does not jeopardize our troops in harm’s way,” the First Lady said. She also stated that “People around the world are listening to these discussions.”

Allow me to translate: (more…)

The right side of the mud trail

This is a column I don’t particularly want to write.

I’ve been planning to vote for Christine Jennings, and I undoubtedly still will, but, I’ve got a problem with the recent path she’s asking Democrats to follow.

I’m more than willing to follow a candidate along a rocky or rough and tumble campaign trail. But I find it a considerably less enjoyable journey when the trail deteriorates to mud. (more…)

Sarasota’s fun factor

Now, I’ve been given an edict to keep this column a little more focused on “fun” and last weekend I was a woman on just such a mission. Usually I work every day (ah, the exciting life of a struggling writer). But since last week went down as one of my personal worst weeks ever, I decided to blow off the entire weekend, punch a hole in my wallet, and have a little bit of fun.

As a result, I discovered two way-cool places; both of them ridiculously high on the fun factor. (more…)

Planet America

Poor Pluto’s been relegated to the planetary sidelines by the addition of just one word. He’s still a planet of sorts, but now the distinction is clear – he’s a “dwarf planet.”

A lot of people seemed to feel that this new label was a pejorative Pluto doesn’t deserve. Behind the sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, hue and cry, there seemed to be an almost genuine sympathy for the marginalization Pluto experienced. (more…)

Sheepish in Sarasota

Last week I wrote a column about Katie Couric. The week before that I wrote a column about Sarasota voters and the September 5th elections.

I wrote about the hope I held for the possibility that Couric would choose to transcend mediocrity. I wrote about the hope I had that Sarasotans would rise above what is being said about them, and prove themselves to be better, smarter, more responsible, than all the comics and bloggers are saying.

Message to self: wake the hell up. (more…)