by Barbara Smith | Dec 24, 2022 | Personal Pigeonholes
Waiting In between eye surgeries what I was told is true. Now, with one surgery down and one to go, I see better without my glasses; except for up close reading. And when I put on older specs, it is like putting on the former cataract. Talk about a memory lane not... 
by Barbara Smith | Dec 28, 2021 | Personal Pigeonholes, Understanding the Times
Once again the seasonal programming that my favorite public broadcasting radio stations promote smacked me out of a forthcoming funk. Each year its every-where -ness startles me! Whoever decided what to play when, their selections are again venues of seasonal... 
by Barbara Smith | Dec 21, 2021 | Personal Pigeonholes, Understanding the Times
Thanks to a surge of a variant of the virus that “simplified” Christmas last year, Christmas 2021 just got a whole lot simpler! Well, I’ve been grousing for years that Christmas, etc was too much hype.* Couldn’t we just simplify our festivities, and focus on the... 
by Barbara Smith | Dec 18, 2021 | Understanding the Times
A pianist friend confided that what she sees in musical composition changes over time—when she looks at sheet music, especially ones she has loved and played over the years. What she saw in the score at age 18 changed when she was 35 in the exact same sheet music.... 
by Barbara Smith | Dec 10, 2021 | Personal Pigeonholes, Understanding the Times
When I looked, it was clear a Christmas cactus was brilliantly blooming despite me! Oh! it was better than a Christmas card! Throughout the year I barely kept it watered; yet out it popped— blooming its fool head off. One of our two Christmas cactuses is blooming...