July, 2008 | Ann Leary, author of The Good House

My daughter passed her driving test today. She got her license. Here she is driving off down our driveway – without me.

I thought about her driving off down the road alone. Then I thought about the first nurse, the one who delivered her, who plopped her onto a table and tossed her little limbs from side to side as she rubbed her – helping her breathe. Not so rough, I thought, then, but said nothing. One must breathe. Tenderly, is what I kept thinking at that nurse, the tears running down my face. Tenderly.

ON THE AIR

Well, dear World Wide Web, the day has finally arrived. You may listen to my new radio program IN HOUSE now! Just click on this link to hear it. Okay, well you click on that link and you’re brought to a page that tells you all about how great the show is, and then you click on a link called “listen”. Then, alas, you must click on an arrow next to my name and then an arrow in the top left hand corner AND THEN you may listen to my show. Trust me, it’s easier than it sounds, all the clicking takes about a nanosecond. Hopefully, the radio webpage will be simplified soon.

IN HOUSE radio

So, I’ve been a little busy, these past 24 hours. Yesterday I had three interviews – two in which I was the interviewer for my new radio show, IN HOUSE, and one in which I was being interviewed about my book, Outtakes from a Marriage. I’ve gotten so caught up in this radio thing that I was a little confused when the other radio hosts asked me questions about my book.

“What’s that you say?” I wanted to ask, “Am I to understand that I have written some sort of …book?”

Audio Hallucinations

I have spent the past 24 hours in a fit of frustration and agitation that has me seriously, seriously unwound. I’m not kidding, I fear for my sanity. I have been trying to edit one single solitary interview for my forthcoming NPR show, IN HOUSE. I spent 18 hours on it yesterday.

I’m not cut out for this type of work. This is the work of patient people who are meticulous and painstaking; people with sensitive ears and delicate fingers, not people who pound at keyboards with oversized digits (I have man hands – there now you know) and grind their teeth and curse and wince at the sound of their own voice.

Horses, Dog, Girls, Flowers

Gabriel is feeling better. The swelling has gone way down and he’s MUCH perkier. Here he is gazing out of his stall (still not looking terribly happy.)

Remember Lulu, who had the hip replacement last April? Well, she has totally recovered. Here’s a before and after:

Really, have you ever seen a better looking dog? She was a rescue, found in Louisiana as a pup. Perfection in a dog, our Lulu. We’re all completely besotted with her.

Here’s a photo I took over the weekend of my daughter Dev (left) and her friend Ellen riding Mark and Snoopy up a country lane:

A Wild Club

I went to Marblehead the other night to meet with my sister’s book club.

Here they are, the members of the …I forget the name of the book club but it’s an abbreviation that stands for something naughty. Can you believe how tan and gorgeous and sporty-looking they all are? I felt like a sickly, pale-faced consumption victim in their midst. See if you can guess which one is my sister:

Ooops, the photo’s too big and it cut the club in half. Here are the rest of the gals:

An Injury

So the other night, I arrived home to find my 20 year old horse Gabriel standing in his stall on three legs. He was DRENCHED in sweat.

The leg was horribly swollen from the knee up. Gabriel has a setup where he can come and go from his stall as he pleases and he must have hobbled in from his field to his stall on the three legs. The vet and I thought he had fractured the leg.

Congratulations Denis!

Denis has been nominated for an Emmy award for his outstanding work as a supporting actor in HBO’s film, RECOUNT!

In addition to the RECOUNT nomination, RESCUE ME received two nominations- one for actor Charles Durning and one for the show’s great Director of Photography Tom Houghton. So exciting.

Hmmmm. What to wear?

Moon Illusion

Last night a beautiful moon floated above our field. It was one of those immense and luminous moons that make you draw in your breath and cry out, “look at the moon,” even if you’re just alone with your dogs, as I was. But when I took a photograph, it was just a regular moon.

I had forgotten that you can’t photograph the moon when it’s so big in the early evening, because its size is an illusion. It’s called “Moon Illusion.”

Driving Away

ON THE AIR

IN HOUSE radio

Audio Hallucinations

Horses, Dog, Girls, Flowers

My Sister Meg

A Wild Club

An Injury

Congratulations Denis!

Moon Illusion

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