First Person Singular by Wendy Braitman

Is Everything in its Place in Your Place?

I was catching up with old neighbors on Sunday, and sat idly in their backyard as they cleaned out and rearranged the items in the shed. There were plastic bins for everything, from the nails and screws to the extension cords and light bulbs. I was in awe watching them organize it all. My place is neat enough, but I don’t have the patience for that level of detail. Do you?

Photograph by Henry Hargreaves from Things Organized Neatly

Long Live Books

I walked a friend to his car and he showed me four plastic containers filled with books. An avid reader, he had run out of space in his apartment and was donating them to a library. In the past, he’d sold the overflow to a used book store, but there’s not much of a market anymore. I’ve read that sales of e-readers are plummeting, as more people are using phones and tablets. Have your habits changed?

Painting: Library with Grey Sea by Jeremy Miranda

The Masters

It has taken me decades to master the chocolate chip cookie. What are you great at?

Artist Chuck Close eyeing Andy Warhol, 2009. Photo by Andy Freeberg

Good Summer Advice

I need to stow this somewhere on the inside of my car.

Watercolor and pencil by Brad Phillips

Does Loading the Dishwasher Stress You Out?

Over the weekend, I was having dinner with a married couple, and after clearing the table, there was some tension about the right way to load the dishwasher. As the sole person in charge of my kitchen, this never comes up. What’s your experience?

Artwork by Kendell Geers

Rating Dating

This is an excerpt from a 1960 book, Marriage and Family Living, flagged on the site, Awful Library Books. I like the checklist.

The Fruits of Summer

Today, I bought my first cantaloupe of the season, which is now ripening in a wooden bowl on the kitchen counter. I’m eager for the sugary sweet 100 tomatoes, which should be cropping up in the market any day now. When I used to live in a climate with real winter and without much winter produce, I couldn’t wait for the warm, long days of sunlight and the abundance of fruit. I may get a pang when I hear about friends planning romantic weekends at the beach or the lake. But that’s okay. It’s still my favorite time of the year. What do you love best about summer?

Banana Boat by Lauren Purnell

Color Me Blue

Check out Grant Snider’s work on Incidental Comics. He lifts my spirits on a regular basis.

Do You Nap?

I’m still tired from the weekend of sleeping one night on a lumpy couch and another in a bed not my own. If only I could nap. I’ve never gotten the hang of it. But I hear it’s delicious.

Cat Nap by Kurt Solmssen

One Last Word about Sleeping on the Sofa

Until the saga was over, I was waiting to link to a piece I wrote five years ago for the Huffington Post about a very similar subject. Coincidentally, I was reporting back from a big birthday celebration for the same two friends as last weekend, with very different results.

Chalkboard from Dangerdust