Barbara Stoner's Blog, page 17

Cleaning House

Cleaning house. I don't know why everyone seems to hate it so. I like it. Oh, the everyday gets repetitious and dreary, so it's not like I wake up in the morning thinking, Oh boy! Dishes. But then there are times like these.

I can't count the times I've moved over the years, but one thing I have learned from the experience. If you want to get to know a place, if you want to feel at home, if you want to stake your claim on a space and make it yours, clean it. Every last corner.  Read more

The Evolution of an Argument

Got into another fascinating conversation with an old acquaintance of mine, Seattle's own Jim Page, that began with the question of whether or not the word "intelligence," as a human trait, was ever used in the gospels. I had to shove my oar in with the supposition that perhaps "intelligence" was what was then meant by "wisdom." And the back and forth began. Read more

Temperance

I didn't write that piece on Patience with any idea of working my way through the seven heavenly virtues as laid down by Prudentius in the 5th century A.D. Note the virtuous name, which specific virtue does not appear in the list. Read more

Private Parts

A looooong time ago, I knew this guy. Maybe you knew him too. He was kinda like a one-man drug store. You know, the kind of drugs you may have seen on police procedurals - how else could you possibly know about these things? The kind of drugs for which, apparently, a number of people have been arrested.

And he got away with it. He's still around, but no longer in business. He's not a millionaire, not even a thousandaire. He's got a real job and lives a quiet life and never spent a single day in jail. Read more

Patience

I have been working on the virtue of patience my entire life and I have to say, I haven't gotten very far. Anyone who thinks I have, who thinks I'm very patient, who thinks I am the very essence of delayed gratification, doesn't see the subtle machinations I have put in place to make that illusion possible.

For one thing, there are the books. Waiting for a cab? I have a book. Doctor's office? Book. A friend is running late? Am I ever mad? No. I had a book.  Read more

Caroline

Last night, before heading up to our District's election party, my friend Sarajane and I stopped by the medical cannabis party where another friend of mine, Margo Polley, gave a talk about our mutual friend Caroline Welch. Caroline's life was not all about medical cannabis - it was about a great many other things - but in the last months of that life medical cannabis was added to her list of causes. For good cause. Here is my friend Margo, talking about our friend Caroline: Read more

Still the Same

Following is a letter from an ex-fiancee' and ruminations on past and present states of mind. The present herein referred to is actually 2007, when I first wrote about this, and the sciatica is long gone. Cured, I do truly believe, by a mule-back ride halfway down the Grand Canyon and back. But that belief may, in itself, corroborate my daughter's summation: Read more

Champaine Beige

Somewhere in my archives there is a promo pic for a stripper who called herself Champaine Biege, signed "Love, Champaine." It is a beautiful picture, and she is a beautiful woman. Unfortunately, this picture is not worth a thousand words.

I met Champaine when "Grampa" got out of prison. I don't even know Grampa's story - or if I ever did, I've forgotten it now. There was a "Grandma" - an older woman who hung out at the local biker bar, and when Grampa got out of prison, there was a huge party. Grandma was right there at the center of it, the good 'ol lady standing by her ol' man. Read more

For Vicki, Wherever You Are

Last Monday was 1978. Moving ahead a couple of years, I believe I am in Seattle for the first time, receiving a card from my friend Vicki - a beautiful card, dated 2.26.80 - with a wonderful picture of a woman in a clown suite, wearing a green hat, and a face composed of the night sky, also reflected around her, but with a rainbow in the center. She holds a mask of a beautiful woman's face. The card reads, "If you're afraid of the dark...remember the night rainbow."  Read more

Together Forever

The year is 1978. I'm still married. To my second husband. But not for long. My daughter is 2. My son is 11. I am the central figure in a very large painting by Charles Munch entitled 6 Women.  Read more