death

2025 Grateful 39: Three women

I had a lovely note the other day from a good friend, JG in England. She sent a photo of flowers she had planted in

balding man leaning to the right while sitting in a chair. Fingers clasped on the arm of the chair. Man is in a suit and tie.

Happy birthday, Boss

Happy birthday, Boss. I miss not being able to pick up the phone and talk to you today. It seems strange. You’d have been 99.

Facade of a synogogue embellished with a clock and a Hebrew inscription that reads, "For my house, be called to the house of prayer for all peoples."

2024 Grateful 19: On the day I die

I’ve been re-reading Daniel Silva‘s Gabriel Allon series and enjoying them again. They’re a gift that keeps on giving. I also visited the old synagogue

Photo of a greeting card - white, with a green leaf imprint and the words 'While the rest of the world carries on as though nothing has happened, remember that others know your world will never be the same."

2024 Grateful 27: Condolences

In the last year or so, I’ve made note of a few things I won’t be saying again. Things I used to say with abandon.

Trudy and the author sitting beside each other smoking. Trudy, on the left, is in a cream blazer with a dark blouse, the lapels of which come out over the jacket. She's wearing make-up, large earings and her her blond hair cut short. The younger girl (the author) to the right has short dark hair with a fringe She's wearing an overside brown blazer with a black check through it. Both are smiling. Happy.

2024 Grateful 50: One of a kind

Trudy is dead, mam said. She died during the week. I was surprised that I was so surprised at the news. Trudy had been in

2023 Grateful 23: Some man, for one man

We buried Boss a month ago today, June 19, three days after he took his last breath – or as my brother might say, sank

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world

I’ve been crap lately about remembering birthdays. No. That’s not quite true. I remember them but then I forget to do anything about them, even

2021 Grateful 22: Two slices of a pizza life

Today is my mate’s birthday. Were he still gracing the world with his presence, he’d be in fancy dress somewhere celebrating. He was a great

Life-or-death decisions

Not once, but two or three or four times a day, I make life-or-death decisions. I decide what lives and what dies. Sometimes those decisions

2018 Grateful 22

When your bestie’s birthday is a couple of days before yours, it’s generally a good thing. Back in the day when we lived on the