http://www.readjulia.com/life Writer Julia Smillie muses on life in Ann Arbor, Michigan Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:28:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I love it when my old St. Louis neighborhood makes national news. This time it appears to be a standoff between a gunman and police and it's already resulted in one firefighter dead and two police officers injured. Nice. When I saw the headline on MSNBC.com, I was thinking it was probably ... http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/418 I just realized, to my great surprise, that I hadn't actually written a new post in nearly three weeks. I know; I'm a terrible blogger. It's just that I've been spending most of my mental energy doing something that's also surprising: writing. My work's coming along painfully slowly, but progress ... http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/417 Literally within a handful of days the baby blue jays went from looking like baby pterodactyls with see-through craniums to looking like baby, well, birds. Complete with downy fluff and the emergence of blue feathers. Amazing. Over the past few days, I've kept a close eye on their progress. (Too ... http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/416 From CNN.com today: Obama is 'arrogant,' charges Karl Rove. Also in breaking news: Kettle is black, charges pot. http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/415 We have a truly magnificent back deck at our house. I can say that sort of thing because we're renters and I didn't have a damn thing to do with it. A couple of weeks ago, I was enjoying an afternoon reading on said deck when I noticed a particular ... http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/411 Not ever, or anything. Just the first in our backyard this summer. Enjoy. http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/409 That's where I am right now. Not a lot going on. Not a lot to say. Still riding the post-Effexor wave of completely uncontrollable emotion coupled with inexplicable rage and anxiety at the drop of a hat. It's a real treat, I tell you. Writing some, but not a lot. ... http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/408 Among the many, many reasons you should feel sorry for me is the fact that I never went to camp as a child. In Britain, people just didn't send their kids off to camp. (They may today, but I'm not certain.) When we moved to the states when I was ... http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/407 How can I tell, especially with temperatures still dipping into chilly-low places at night? Here's how: It's the first Dirty Sheed of year, a summer tradition, a Zingerman's concoction of espresso and Mexican vanilla syrup (sugar free, in my case) and half-and-half over ice. Like a cup of rich, melted coffee ... http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/401 Roger Main, 1958. "Children, The Gorbals, Glasgow." On our trip to Glasgow earlier this month, I was seated on our Detroit-to-Amsterdam leg across the aisle from two Scottish women. Give a cheery smile to a Scots woman and you'll likely wind up in conversation that covers everything but the kitchen sink, ... http://www.readjulia.com/life/archives/398