Welcome!

A short(ish) introduction.

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

What is the present perfect? Is it just me crowing about how great my life is right now? No, I promise, it’s not. Bear with me while I delve into one of my favorite subjects: grammar. #nerdalert

The present perfect is a verb tense which Grammarly.com tells us is “used to show an action that happened in the past that is directly related to the present, such as actions that are still continuing or that indicate change over time.”

It’s a simple concept - the past influencing the present. And what could be more true or real than that? Thus, the title I chose for this… newsletter? Blog? Vanity project? I’m not wholly clear on what Substack is, but I needed an outlet for my writing and some kind of external pressure to get me to write. Writing is, after all, why I left my job in October 2021. Or it was a big part of the reason, anyway. I had a vague idea that I was going to write a novel, and maybe I will. But that takes discipline and seems like a huge project to tackle from a state of total inertia. So here I am taking baby steps to engage my mind in the process of writing through an outlet that seems forgiving enough not to terrify me.

But back to the present perfect. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more aware of time passing (duh) and of how things I’ve done or experienced or avoided have influenced how I feel now and how I view everything, from the everyday - what I read or watch or eat or see - to the big stuff, the metaphysical, the whys and hows and whatifs. I’m not always going to write about the specifics of this; I’m just going to write what I want to - probably most often about the everyday stuff because that’s life. I know, though - and you should too - that all of me and all of my life is an accumulation of the bits and pieces of the past. The good, the great, the funny, the awful, the beyond awful, the amazing, the illuminating, the…..

So what is my everyday? What might I write about? Here’s a short list of things that occupy my mind or that I care a lot (too much?) about:

• Books

• Travel

• Food

• My dead mother (but not in a grim way!)

• Proving that my adopted state of New Jersey is not the dumpster fire most people think

• Healthy habits (don’t laugh - I’ve been working on this; NB: this does not include teetotaling)

• My husband (Hi Stinks! aka The Wayne aka Stink-man aka The Best)

• Bad film adaptations of beloved books (looking at you Netflix’s Persuasion)

• Discussing why deep dish “pizza” is a disgrace to pizza everywhere

• Select sports/teams

• The World’s Best Dog, Nuala

• Our Emotional Support Asshole, Leonard (purportedly a cat, but I have my doubts)

That’s probably enough for now. If you’re still reading, I hope you’ll subscribe (it’s free!). My plan is to post something new once a week, at least. But I’m not committing to a specific day because that way lies madness. Also, arbitrary deadlines and things that feel like homework don’t fit into my new foot-loose and fancy-free retirement life. 

TL;DR - This is a completely selfish exercise that I hope might occasionally bring a soupçon (that soupçon of French is for my best friend, Eileen aka Leener aka Liggity aka The Sister of My Heart) of entertainment to friends and family (and random strangers who might happen upon it). 

And apologies for any technical weirdness as I get used to using this platform!