Want to recommend a book, Motherless Daughters, by Hope Edelman. My mom sort of checked out from shock treatments and addiction when I was eleven, and she died when I was 17. I didn’t know her as a person, but the foundation she gave me was tremendous. She loved unconditionally. She was altruistic. She filled her life with books, and she played classical piano. She taught school, and made the best hand knit red sweaters with silver buttons and double knit mittens ever! She made something called Congo Bars, and great fudge and let us roller skate through the house during the day. My father was authoritarian and we went to bed at 7 every night. When I was a little girl, babushka type women came to our little house on Wren Street, sat in our kitchen, talked about the “Iron Curtain” (which is thought was a great iron bath curtain across Russia) and learned to speak English. They were Latvian women who had lost their husbands, and my mother taught them for free. I as her daughter, years later, in 1980 would arise to a call to travel from Moscow to Siberia, and through Ukraine, with a peace group and then live in Ukraine and Belarus from 1990-1993. I am not an alcoholic, but addiction runs through me. I am sensitive as she was, but had therapy, and used tools of insight which came down the path later than her era, and have overcome a great deal. Her unconditional love sustained me when I was a little girl. I think personality wise I am a mix, father and mother. My twin though was like my father, and I seemed more like my mother. I have read somewhere, it is the father’s behavior that affects the girl, and the mother’s behavior that affects the boy. Any recognition of this? Okay have happy days.

Absolutely. I tend to have a sideways view of life, and my friends think I am very funny. I think one side of my family had a genetic predisposiiton to humor (and addiction too, oh dear); my son is very funny too. I write pain and humor sometimes. Buoyant pathos a friend called it. Besides my eyes, I value my humor the most. I think it takes life to the abstract, and then it can be handled. Think of all the brilliant humorists and I’ll just mention a few - Lily and Whoopie right up there. I love Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, as they make us laugh at something that would be totally painful otherwise. Remember Conrad the political cartoonist? Irreplaceable. Read Pnin by Nabokov. Droll. It’s all grist for the mill.

Hey Caroline MJLVWEY; you take extra care of yourself, and know that hearts beat out here for your wellbeing-any friend of Edith Ann’s is a friend of mine! hugs and love coming your way!

Edith Ann, Edith Ann, because you are Edith Ann, I don’t see your crummy stuff, just the good. No worries and love!

Well, after some belabored thought, I think she does Mugsy!

it is totally disheartening and the press sold out long ago. There are always the few with integrity. Everything is now entertainment. Thank you for your article.

Joan: loved your writing, and I love all the comments about shoes. The other obsessive. Thanks for the websites too. I love how we all pick up tips from different sources. My feet grew after I was rolfed! go figure. As I am older, I am more flat footed and not as sure. such is life!

Why do they think we are all dolts out here? It would be harmfull for road upkeep and all. I live in Pasadena, and I have seen an uptake of Hummers on the road. I find it interesting to have gas guzzlers chugging through urban streets, and I think of the Hummers used in Baghdad. Our young are being creamed while inside their Hummers. Does anyone see the connection?

I adore her. I could repeat that phrase a 1,000 times, and Jane too! What a writer! My husband and I saw the play, one act-where Lili played a bag lady. She has given the public so many endearing images that are part of our innards, like DNA. Wonderful. Hugs and gratitude!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I had no idea they came with wishes or blessings and were an official flower. I grew up in New England and have always loved these flower. Your pictures offered a nice respite from the everyday world, and I smiled so while viewing each one! Gratitude!

Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin; great book!

this is endless; it basically is just gossip; is this the measure of who we are?

great story; i love everyone’s input!

thank you Frank; there are several people, young and old, who remain in my heart’s image section - an honor and privilege to witness, sad though; there are a lot of brave and courageous people out there!

Maggi, you didn’t sound sobby to me- it’s valid; most of us live on a cliff, or are halfway down the cliff or over it. When I was a single parent, I had to pay 20% and it darn near killed me. Of late, just a blood test for $25, i get checked once a month, is threatening. But I’ve had miracles too. We lived in Ukraine and Belarus, returned in 1993, went back to Seattle. I had no insurance, and we were out of money for various reasons. I went to Harborview Hospital in Seattle, and sat there with the indigents. A staff member apologized for my having to do so. I said, “No, why should I be different.” I felt it was a privilege. Long story short, they discovered a birth defect; 2 openings to my aortic valve, and in 1995, it was an emergency. Had to have emergency gall bladder surgery and aortic valve replacement and bypass. Hospital said go to welfare; we did; they said you have to pay $10,000. We said ok (didn’t have it but would pay it); they said when is this operation. We said tomorrow. Blue Cross refused to cover any of heart surgery saying it was preexisting. My cardiologist wrote to them and said my condition could result in “sudden death,” and I remember my husband and I laughing over it. They said no. The hospital had some kind person whose job it was to pull it all together, paperwork and all. He said don’t worry. I went in for angiogram, then aortic valve replacement, then gallbladder surgery 5 days later. It was the University of Washington, and I had an incredible doctor. We found out months later, Blue Cross paid for the gallbladder stuff, and the doctors wrote off their fees! This is an incredible place, Harborview in Seattle. It’s like being in the Valley of Love, and they are wonderful to the streams of humanity who crawl, totter, or run to their doors!