Author Archives: janishaag

Not now, deeply into the future,preferably when I don’t knowthat it’s coming, lying on the yoga mat in, appropriately,corpse pose after a gentle backyard sessionon a summer day much like this one, Delta breeze susurrating through the sycamore,the distant call … Continue reading →

(On the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America) 1. First, there’s no perfect. Just working toward it,a willingness to improve, to strive for better,for what truly matters. 2. There have … Continue reading →

Watching the enthusiastic ladyferns spread their wings likegreen swans against the fence, I am aware that, with theirseasonal emergence that I donothing to prompt, they have swallowed the rosebush that lives beneath them,I trust that they are sheltering it, rather … Continue reading →

“Crazy bastards,” my father used to say whenhe saw young people doing dangerous things— like riding motorcycles or hot-rodding motorboatson the lake on hot summer days—this from a guy who had famously water skied barefoot in his 20s.“Probably drunk,” he’d … Continue reading →

(for the original BFF, Dr. Susan Lester, upon her retirement as a veterinarian, Nevada City, California) 1. At age 9, sit in a circle on the floor with yourbest friend next door and her younger sisteralong with a cardboard box … Continue reading →

Rising early, for me, to seelamby clouds frolicking acrossa field of soft blue overhead,barely 70 degrees, and, steppingoutside to retrieve and refill waterand food bowls for those who stop byfor drinks and nibbles. I am stunned to see this pleasantnesspost-solstice, … Continue reading →

Watching Juliet, the tomato plant,grow tall and feathery of leaf,I’ve also been charting the emergenceof her offspring, consulting Farmer Google—“How do you know when homegrowntomatoes are ripe?”—feeling a bit ditsybecause, duh, when they’re red, right? Which is true, apparently, but … Continue reading →

do rainbow flags hang over the bar.They’re year-round décor, part ofthe furniture with the pool table and the barstools with concavecenters that have held untoldnumbers of butts over the decades. What stories those stools—and backsides—could tell, even ifthey weren’t there … Continue reading →

She walked in the nail salonas I sat on my throne,a kind young man at my feet, and he and I both looked upat the one so pregnantwho’d come for the same kind of pampering my old feet weregratefully receiving, … Continue reading →

(an homage to acupuncture) Been a minute, but please get in therewith those cat-whisker-thin needlesand loosen up that stuck qi, unblock that energy, shine up thosemeridians and let it flow, baby.And while you’re at it, can you jumpstart those pain-quellingendorphins … Continue reading →