Elise Sereni Patkotak

For reasons that are apparent to anyone who has even an inkling of my political leanings, I turned off my tv last fall. I turned off the news on my radio. I stopped listening to Colbert or the Daily Show. I stopped looking at Facebook and any other online site where I might accidentally see the news.

Maybe if I was younger, this would be wrong. But I’m not. I’m old. Very, very old. And I simply no longer have the energy or enthusiasm for the outside world. My world has shrunk to my home, my dogs, my birds, my Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, Anchorage had a windstorm that was quite impressive. So impressive, in fact, that it blew out a large part of the fence in my dog yard. I didn’t notice it at first. Neither, apparently, did my dogs.

All three of them went out at least four or five times without noticing. Or maybe they noticed and didn’t understand the concept of running away. Or maybe it was treat time and they chose to stay put in order to get one. Whatever was going through their minds, escape was not one of those thoughts. Or maybe they Continue reading →

This does not feel like my America. At least, not like the America I was raised to believe in. And yet, it is all of us, the Boomers, their children, and grandchildren who have voted to create this America.

If we didn’t raise our children and grandchildren to know any better, that’s on us.

But now the Boomers are over. Or we should be. We were supposed to be the generation that brought love and kindness to society. Acceptance and comradery.

Not only did we blow that big time, as a parting gift to all, we have given America its Continue reading →

I like to read in bed. But I have bad vision. I need to read on my iPad so I can make the print larger.

I like to play word games in bed.  I can only do this on my iPad.

I like a lot of things I can do with my iPad in bed. But there’s a problem. It’s called my midriff. Apparently, what is left of the fat of my youth has settled in my midriff. The doctors say this is normal. It’s like the Florida of your body. It’s where the fat goes when it retires from Continue reading →

So, I’ve recently turned another year older. I won’t say how old. I’ll just say that the phrase “older than dirt’ now applies to me.

I lost a lot of people I cared for over the past three or four months. I guess that’s what happens when you live longer than you thought you would. Those people were a major part of my youth – my childhood and my young adulthood. It’s hard to see them go for a lot of reasons. One of the most difficult for me is that they take my memories with them.

I no longer Continue reading →

So last night’s wind blew out a huge portion of the fence in the “dog yard”. My dogs were out in it three or four times before I noticed the hole. Thank god they are too dumb to notice the hole or realize it is their escape route. They went out. They came back in. They never noticed a thing.

Loving companions with limited intelligence are the best. Continue reading →

There was a time in my life when I wanted to receive flowers. A big bouquet of flowers. With a lovely note attached telling me I was someone very special. I wanted them to be from some tall, dark, handsome man who couldn’t live without me.

That never happened.

Now, I get a Costco chicken from one of the nicest men I know. Whenever he’s in town, he goes to Costco and, along with his groceries, he picks me up a chicken.

He isn’t tall, dark, and handsome. He’s not tall or dark. But he looks pretty handsome to me Continue reading →

Am I the only person who thinks that somewhere in Anchorage, former mayor Dave Bronson is sitting home wondering how this happened. His last year in office, when he was running for re-election, Anchorage got enough snow to end water shortages the world over. And because of the… let’s call it, the lackluster response to that snowmageddon… he did not have a winning path to a second term.

Yes, yes. I know. There were many other issues that kept him from winning but let’s be real, those snow berms that made pulling out of side streets such an exciting challenge Continue reading →

So, in a moment of weakness, I thought I should have a keyless door entry for my front door installed. And then, of course, once you’ve done that, you inevitably want that doorbell camera, so you won’t have to go downstairs to find out who’s there.  Or, let’s be real, you want to see who’s there so you know if you want to open the door for them. No guarantee it will be a friend you like.

Yep. Seemed like the best Christmas presents I could give myself once the holiday season had ended. Dear lord was I ever wrong. Continue reading →

my hemorrhoid pillow… pillow!

Continue reading →