Author Archives: janishaag

Though I wouldn’t mind supporting the localcarrier pigeon racing club or youth sports orthe Urban League, I don’t buy fireworks. The pop and snap and sizzle startle me—always have—which makes me like the dogswho prefer to hide when all the … Continue reading →

fine (fee-nay) noun: the place where a piece of music finishes;“the end” in Italian ••• The house is really theirs now,the sign with our name replacedby a new one with theirs, which is as it should be,as my sister and … Continue reading →

(In appreciation of East Lawn Cemetery, Sacramento, California) The cemetery of my heartis not unlike the one I walk throughas if it’s a lovely park, which it is—large, undulating with greennessand tall pines, not to mentiona vast field of well-scrubbedtombstones. … Continue reading →

Why Sunday I don’t know, but I swearthat’s when I hear them panting,their little green tongues hanging out, especially in summer, when I check oneach of them and carry them to the sink,place them on the pink plastic mat, murmuring … Continue reading →

As I roll out my mat in the back yard,I see you, my cats of different eras, arranging your long-gone selves aroundthe yard—from the blonde-furred, blue-eyed Redford (one of the dimmestbulbs on four paws) to the more recently departed orange-y … Continue reading →

Here I am! Didja miss me?I know that I’m a fair-weather friend,an over-90-degrees-before-I-test-your-waters swimmer, which is, perhaps, unfair, but you aresolar heated only by the actual sun, notany fancy equipment, and I’m sureI’m not the only timid one. So it’s … Continue reading →

Validation is a wonderful thing,even atop a cardboard boxof supplies that arrives monthly. Someone in a warehousesomewhere has Sharpie’d anencouraging message with my name on it,which indicates gratitudefor my purchase of bamboo toilet paper and recycledpaper plates. But I chooseto … Continue reading →

Last night,working late,the glow of the computerthe only light in the room, I heard the whine of a tinyhelicoptering somethingwhiz by my ear, and Iwhapped at it before I thought,Summer! Bugs!In winter I find myselfat first grateful for the lack … Continue reading →

In tai chi, they say,walking is simplyperpetual falling. The young instructorteaches this to a roomof beginners, all of us in the older adultcategory upstairs in a historichouse-turned-library. So much accumulated wisdomembedded in these walls, onthe shelves, in every exhale. We … Continue reading →

I take myself to see Dr. Janis,my co-conspirator in eye care,whose mother had the insightful ideato spell her daughter’s nameas my mother spelled mine,which is to say unusuallyfor a Janice. How could I not find instant rapportwith a blonde, bespectacled … Continue reading →