How many ways can you say hot cocoa? — I never had an accent until I arrived in the U.S. I got on a plane, and several flights later, BAM! I had an accent. I grew up in another country and spoke much like everyone else around me. We sounded similar to each other. …

Kitty Jump Ball — Birds like our house. Not pet birds, but wild birds. Though it’s a mystery to me as to why — don’t they know danger lurks indoors? And yet birds have gotten into our house three times in the past several weeks. Three different birds, three different times. …

Pandemic-style — I recently had a sleep study, and everyone I talked to about it had an unhappy story to tell. It was usually along the lines of: they put a bunch of wires on your head and you don’t get any sleep. The stories were dramatic and sometimes traumatic. But my…

Memories of a friendly, good-natured cat — The first I saw of Mr. Winks was his picture on a dating site. No, it was not his profile! He was in a picture posted on his human’s profile. I noticed him because he looked like my eldest cat, a gray and white Tuxedo with white paws. I had…

It’s not my party but I’ll cry if… —

Haze Approaches —

How rude! — Pine tree candles are middle fingers up-yoursing my spring allergies. Lucia Siochi, 2023–05 Have you seen those little sticks on pine tree branches in the Spring? Each one is only a few inches tall, but you’ll notice because a ton of them adorn the pine trees all at the same…

Amusing annoyance — Tiny stomping feet sing across rooftop highway. Annoyed, I’m amused. -Lucia Siochi, 2023–05 The squirrels in our yard use our roof as their highway to get from a tree on one side of the house to a tree on the other side. Small as these creatures are, they manage to…

A letter to whoever is in charge — April 1, 2023 To Whoever is in Charge of the Seasons Thermostat: I’m elated you stopped randomly and sporadically turning the dial back and forth between the Winter and Spring settings. Unfortunately, the Seasons Thermostat now seems stuck on the Summer setting. …