My mother's husband Enver — a wonderful gardener and activist for green spaces in Toronto where they lived for many many years, has created this beautiful green and living memorial for his wife and my mother, Jeanette. He petitioned to have a sugar maple tree planted along the public walkway (where he […]
A Memorial To My Mother Jeanette Snyder Read More »
This has been such a fertile time looking toward the past. Daily, thanks to my cousin Earl (an excellent genealogist), another chapter in the narrative history of my family opens up. I should write a novel — well, maybe stories about my family. Here is a bit of news that Earl sent me
Madeleine and Bohemian Paris Read More »
A lovely Italian phrase that translates as " A small cask makes good wine" is an Italian compliment to a short person. I reply by stretching to my 5' 1" height, Grazie! (Art: Philippe Mercier 1689 — 1760)
Botte Piccola Fa Vino Buono Read More »
More from the archives…these two photos are buried amid others. I had almost despaired of finding them again, and when I was looking for something else, there they were. My father's wife Eva took them one morning at coffee — I think I was 18 or 19 years old. I like them very much,
Was I Ever This Young? Read More »
So my maternal grandfather Emmanuel Pierre Menager was something of a coyote trickster — an itinerant artist, a womanizer (an occasional bigamist), but a rather magical person when he showed up at our house. Though I suspect my parents — especially my father was less than pleased (despite the fact that Pierre was
Wily Rascal: My Grandfather, Pierre Menager Read More »
So it's true — every dog has his day. And here's a little celebration of those furry-faced, cold snouts and sweet-eyed dogs that come into our lives and make them better. I have to post this grizzled guy because I have known him now for 11 years and love him. Enjoy your day, Buju
Happy International Dog’s Day. Read More »
I figured it was high time to post some pictures of my mother, Jeanette, and found this one of her just after I was born, as well as a strip of photo-booth pics taken when I was just a wee one. I've also included a photo taken just after my birth as I
The Joy of Seeing Her Face Every Now and Then. That lipstick! Read More »
Happy Anniversary, Mr. We look so earnest, so young, and so in love hanging on to each other. I made my wedding dress two days before the wedding—a Vogue pattern of an Albert Nippon dress. The fabric was $1.39 a yard. The most expensive thing we paid for at the wedding was your suit—which
Forty Four Years and Still Sweet. Read More »
I am very grateful this New Year as my mother has survived the last two weeks, which included a harrowing medical-emergency flight from Canada in a small air ambulance in those snow storms that shut down the Midwest, a week of tests, bad news, more bad news, then not so bad news, then finally,
Another Year, Another Birthday Read More »
Kilimanjaro Rainforest, 1967 Just today, I received a Facebook message from an old friend, Mary, who lived in Tanzania when I was 14. She recalled when we climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in 1967. At 14 years old, I was the youngest of the troop, composed of students from the Economics department, my father (who was teaching
Looking Back on Kilimanjaro Read More »
