Published in Karine’s Musings on This and That·PinnedMember-onlyThe Road Less TraveledA (Sub)Urban Biking Holiday — Bill Bryson Style — A holiday doesn’t have to involve cumbersome travel to distant must-see special destinations on the globe. Nor hours of speeding (or creeping) along freeways with thousands of other people enclosed in their solitary 4000-pound metal projectiles. Nor the ordeal of sitting all hunched up in excessively close proximity to strangers…Travel9 min readTravel9 min read
Published in The Grief and Renewal Chronicles·PinnedMember-onlyThe Empty Bench and the Open RoadA Springtime Wave of Nostalgia — It’s been half a year since my husband died. Six intense months during which I was filled with an eerie energy that propelled me into simultaneously grieving the immensity of the loss and throwing myself resolutely into the next chapter of my life. It was also a time during which…Grief And Loss6 min readGrief And Loss6 min read
Published in Karine’s Musings on This and That·PinnedMember-onlyTurning Tedium into AdventureI love turning ordinary activities into magic adventures. Life is too short to waste on tedium. So here are two versions of what happened to me last week. VERSION # 1 — The boring drag it might have been I had to get up while it was still dark and…Magic7 min readMagic7 min read
Published in The Grief and Renewal Chronicles·PinnedMember-onlyIn All The Old Familiar PlacesA Valentine’s Day Story of Remembrance — Over our 34 years together, we never formally celebrated Valentine’s day. It seemed like a trite and manufactured Hallmark event — with the obligatory sentimental cards, the ingestion of sugary chocolate confections, the crowded lines at restaurants, the little red hearts everywhere. “Every day is Valentine’s Day!” you used to…Valentines Day11 min readValentines Day11 min read
Published in The Grief and Renewal Chronicles·PinnedMember-onlyA Letter of Gratitude to My Dead HusbandDear Raphael — Today, December 10, 2021, would have been your 83rd birthday. You didn’t make it. Three months ago, after a few days in which the pain, the debility and the morphine threw you into terrifying anguish, you ceased being your normal self, and you fell into a deep…Grief And Loss11 min readGrief And Loss11 min read
Published in Karine’s Musings on This and That·Jan 1Member-onlyWhat’s Life About ForYou?New Year’s Day 2023. I’m not sharing or asking you to share New Year’s resolutions. We know where those usually end up. Nor am I sharing or asking you to share what the year 2022 was like. Let’s just say the word “challenging” and leave it at that. The question…Life3 min readLife3 min read
Published in The Grief and Renewal Chronicles·Dec 10, 2022Member-onlyAn Image Worth a Thousand Words!Since my husband’s death, I’ve developed a rich new kind of relationship with him — the relationship of love through remembrance. I had no idea this would happen. Who knows ahead of time what it’s like to lose the person most dear to you, and how you will react and…Grief And Loss6 min readGrief And Loss6 min read
Published in Karine’s Musings on This and That·Dec 5, 2022Member-onlyChoral Singing in Changing TimesSomething has been happening to the content and repertoire of choral singing in America. And to who is doing the singing. And where. It used to be that choral singing was associated predominantly with the Sunday services of Christian churches, and its content was primarily religious music. …Music5 min readMusic5 min read
Published in Karine’s Musings on This and That·Updated Dec 2, 2022Member-onlyA Piece of California HistorySometimes you stumble into learning something new that enriches your sense of the corner of the world in which you live. On a bright California late fall morning after Thanksgiving, I was set to return from a stay in the Santa Rosa-Rohnert Park-Petaluma area of Sonoma County. I decided that…California8 min readCalifornia8 min read
Published in Karine’s Musings on This and That·Nov 23, 2022Member-onlyThanksgiving as a Ritual of BelongingAsk any American “What’s your favorite holiday?” The answer is almost overwhelmingly going to be “Thanksgiving!” Why? When I was an American kid growing up in a French village, thoroughly embedded in French life and minimally identified with American identity, it was the one day when our family went full-throttle…Thanksgiving5 min readThanksgiving5 min read