Tally Harwood

January 13, 2026 Swanboats Forever In search of some relief from this insanity of the current adminsistration, I think back to one of the most serene ten minutes available in this world — a ride on the swan boats. My mother would take me (after a lunch at Lord and Taylor’s) to the Boston Gardens…

Euphemistically Speaking January 6, 2025 Thr word “gown” is often used to add social class or prestige to a basically simple low class, sometimes undesirable object like a dress. “ Night dress” becomes “night gown”, “wedding dress” becomes an excitng event while a “ball dress “ lacks a certain romantic flair until you float acrosss…

December 30, 2025 Not. No New Year Resolutions. What a waste of time and energy. The first resolutions were painstakingly etched into stone 3000 years ago by some well-meaning Sumerian and probably came to nothing. The first; repay your debts. Second; return what you borrowed. Gracious. Sounds easy enough. Fast forward to today, and not…

December 23, 2025 “Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat. Please to put a penny in the old man’s hat’ If not a penny, then a ha’penny will do. If not a ha’penny, then God bless you!” Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 16, 2025 My Deer Family The doe and her fawns showed up yesterday, seemingly oblivious to the four inches of snow and 2 degree temperature. They snuffled into the drifts, searching for green leaves and other food Then apparently satisfied, they made little nests in the snow, curled up their legs and took a…

December 9, 2025 The government has stopped minting the lowly penny. No longer will anyone say “A penny for your thoughts.” Years ago I was in a British hospital and a nurse approached and asked “Want to spend a penny? I thought she was selling lottery tickets but as everyone but me knows it was…

December 2, 2025 The Sunday Times reports that The Orange Monster in the White House has pardoned the ex-president of Honduras who was convicted in a U.S. federal court of allowing “a vast amount” of cocaine to be brought into this country. Since taking office he has issued 1600 pardons including all the thugs who…

November 25, 25 Pause Wait! Wait! Isn’t there something between Halloween and Christmas? Like Thanksgiving? Suddenly the Christmas trees are for sale. Christmas movies have appeared on television.. Gift suggestions fill my mailbox and commercials feature Santa hats, elves and holiday music. Stop! I want at least a day to say thanks. Thanks for relatively…

November 18, 2025 You Send Your Son to College for an Education Fwup, fwup, fwup . . . Thwack! I’m on my couch, reading, when suddenly jolted by my student rental neighbor’s noise. Fwup, fwup, fwup, thwack followed by guys all counting together, “One . . . two . . . three. . . then…

November 11, 2025 A Triumph​? The Orange Evil in the White House (even after tearing down the East Wing, paving over Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden, using the DOJ to punish political enemies and pardoning convicted criminals} is now threatening to name a professional football team after himself (The Trumpets?) to bring wrestlers to the White…

November 4, 2025 A Peaceable Kingdom on the Street in Ohio As I sit in my living room I look out the window and watch twenty year olds come in and out of their student rentals, car owners go up and down the street looking for free parking spaces. So I am not surprised to…

October 28, 2025 Oops. Break week. More important things to do like watch the World Series, Friday night football, the Bengals, Rachel Maddow and Heather Cox Richardson. Also taking up (after a year of devastating loss and horrible surgery) my coloring book. I find it soothing to choose from 300 different colored pencils and stay…

October 21, 2025 Mishandled It all started 25 years ago when car manufacturers introduced push buttons. Open the window? Push down. Lock the door? Click. My granddaughter got into my older model car, took one look at the window handle and asked, “What’s that?” Fast forward to last week when my daughter and I pull…

October 14, 2025 Oh My Deer! The City Coumcil wants to hire a professional group to decrease the city’s deer population because deer cause accidents and eat flowers. May I remind you that the city could save a lot of money and stop buying signs that say “stop”, “slow down”, “road obstruction ahead” or “watch…

October 7, 2025 Ignorance is bliss. I recently posted a picture on our family thread taken in 1904. Four ladiies in long skirts, white shirtwaists and swept up hair along with three younger brothers, hair neatly combed and polished shoes. No cell phones, probably no phone at all, no car (went to town in horse…

September 30, 2025 TopTen With apologies to David Letterman; Top Ten Things I do not want Cancelled. 10. October baseball 9. Monday night football 8 Any late night show 7. US postal service 6. Internet 5. My granddaughter’s wedding 4. Donuts 3. Amazon 2. Elecricity 1. Tomorrow

September 23, 2025 A Myth The ancient Greek myth tells of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, and her beautiful daughter, Persephone, who is kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld. Demeter is understandably angry and threatens to stop all earthly growth. Zeus intervenes with a compromise that allows Persephone to spend half the year with…

September 16, 2025 Deep Breath I’m sorry that Charlie Kirk was assassinated. He did say some terribly wrong things, but he didn’t deserve to die for that. I think we all need to just shut up and move on. I have never read of anyone being assassinated by a bow and arrow. It’s guns, folks,…

September 9, 2025 A History Lesson I’m reading an exhaustive (and exhausting) biography of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Whatta guy! He had an impressive education, graduating from William and Mary College in 1762 and then spending five years reading the most detailed law books resulting in passing the Virginia bar…

September 2, 2025 That’s With a “B” I recently discovered that my most favorite quiz show, “Who Wants to be a Millionnaire?” (I do! I do!) returned this summer and all the episodes are available On Demand. So I’ve been binge watching. I love the questions that range from $100 (What movie ends with the…

Let Freedom Ring A popular song from 1776; Come join hand in hand, brave Americans all and rouse your brave hearts at fair Liberty’s call; No tyrannous acts shall suppress your just claim or stain with dishonor America’s name. In freedom we’re born and in freedom we’ll live; Our purses are ready. Steady, Friends steady.…

August 19, 2025 A Hat Chat A covering for the head; cap, chapeau, bonnet, lid, topper, stove pipe, bowler, derby, ten gallon, sun, pith, helmet, straw, Panama, bearskin, beaver, tam, skull, turban, overseas, ear muff, fedora, wimple just to name a few. And they come in leather, linen, cotton, mesh, plastic or wool. Hats sprout…

August 12, 2025 A Fairy Tale Listen my children, and you shall hear, the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Bearly competent Bearly coherent Bearly conscious who came into the house and broke the furniture, ate their supper and then fell asleep. When the bears came home they were furious at the destruction. They…

August 5, 2025 Lesson Learned After eighty-eight years, I have finally learned my lessons. 1. Get up. 2. Make your bed. 3. Eat your vegetables. 4. Obey your mother. 5. Do a good job. 6. Pay your bills. 7. Read. 8. Learn. 9. Repeat yourself. 10. Get up.

July 29, 2025 Getting Old Again There’s no practicing getting old. It just creeps up on you, a little ache here, a crackling joint there, people talking faster, driving erratically, little by little it hounds you to death (sick joke,ha ha). It seems like all of a sudden you’re on a cane. Then a walker.…

July 22, 2025 Play Ball! I’ve been watching major league baseball lately. Thanks to modern technology I can tape a game, then fast forward through all the commercials and even the opposing team’s “at bats” and watch a whole game from my recliner in less than an hour. Yesterday the Reds played the Rockies, and…

It Goes On and On . . . I like to read works from the classical period because the authors so often reflect timeless topics; Cicero complains about his annoying wife, Martial laments the noise from the street, Caesar on the strange ways of foreigners or Plautus deriding the pompous generals. I mention this because…

July 8, 2025 In spite of current frequent usage, you don’t “graduate university.” “To graduate” is NOT a transitive verb . For you non grammarians, a transitive verb is one that takes a direct object, one that affects someone one or something directly. The exception is when the university does the graduating, as in “Harvard…

June 24, 2025 “And That’s The Way It Was” Heat wave. What would I do without the AC? Reminds me of our first days in town when air conditioning was for rich people only, and we, on an instructor’s salary with five kids, sat sweltering in excesssive heat and humidity.. I would sit immobilized in…

June 17, 2025 Forward, March! I love a parade! Favorite song, “Me name is MacNamara, I’m the leader of the band . . . It’s Hennessy Pennesy Tootin the Flute, and the music is somethin’ grand”. So how disappointed was I to watch “the greatest parade ever” as it fizzled across the evening news with…

Hirsute I’ve been watchimg the Reds. Good grief! All that hair! Long, flowing locks, myriad braids flapping in the wind, beards, mustaches, curly, straight, man buns, neck rolls, STOP! I can’t see anybody’s face through the opaque sunglasses, thick, armor like face guards, black paint on cheeks and drooping hair. So what a relief to…

No Place Like Home I live in a town whose population of 27,000 drops to 10,000 in one weekend in May. . . . where it’s common to look up and see a pair of sneakers swinging from a telephone wire . . . where a doe and her fawns wander through town at will,…

May 27, 2025 You’re Hired! Interviewer; You’re here for the position of Secretary of Defense? Interviewee; Yes. Interviewer; And what are your qualifications?” Interviewee; I’m young, beautiful, have long blonde hair and look like Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. Interviewer; You’ll fit right in. Interviewee; That’s Gucci. Interviewer; Transportation Secretary? Interviewee; Yup. Interviewer; It says here you…

May 20, 2025 Cloudy As someone who learned to type on a manual typewriter and was accustomed to make phone calls by talking to an operator,( a real person), I am often astounded at my, albeit imperfect , mastery of modern day communications. I can use a word processor, can get on the internet, can…

May 13, 2025 Life Imitates Art Back in 1993, a movie came out called “Dave.” It told the story of an American president, struck down with a debilitating stroke, being replaced with a double by a conniving chief of staff, who planned to replace the Vice President and install lhimself as the chief executive. Fast…

May 5, 2025 Robert Frost; that kindly old gentleman farmer from New Hampshire (and who else do I know who comes from New Hampshire except Aunt Dot, Uncle Nat and Calvin Coolidge?) is the subject of a new biography that reveals a more complex picture; a Harvard drop out well versed in philosophy, classical literature…

May 6, 2025 Robert Frost; that kindly old gentleman farmer from New Hampshire (and who else do I know who comes from New Hampshire except Aunt Dot, Uncle Nat and Calvin Coolidge?) is the subject of a new biography that reveals a more complex picture; a Harvard drop out well versed in philosophy, classical literature…

April 29, 2025 I am retired. In the morning I take my coffee, settle into my recliner and watch life go on. From my sliding glass door I watch three worlds. The first, about one foot away from me, centers on the bird bath, frequented by squirrels, cardinals, starlings, many others, especially in the spring…

April 22, 2025 The Un-birthday Some time ago Seven Up liked to refer to itself as the “Un-cola” to distinguish itself from its more popular rival, Coca Cola. Thinking about my recent birthday, I call it the “Un-birthday”, to describe it as most unremarkable, similar to the 15th . Remember the one that failed to…

April 15, 2025 Spring! It happens every year along with my birthday (not another year!), the return of the finches, the blooming forsythia, the winter coat to the back of the closet, the bright yellow, purple, lavender, red and blue at the local nursery, and not in the least, the miracle of daffodils springing up…

April 8, 2025 Thanks to my long legs and skinny frame, I could out run everybody, boy and girl, in fifth grade. And then I grew up, got my license and was off! Now, for the first time since I was sixteen years old I am without a car. Over all those years I always…

Life Requirements It has always been my contention that high schools should require on graduation that everyone should know 1. how to swim 2. basic electronics 3. basic plumbing 4. how to balance a checkbook and now, basic facts about drugs I add this because I lately was prescribed a steroid, a drug that I…

March 25, 2025 Break it up! I don’t know if it’s the warmer weather, or the fact that the whole town is deserted with 90% of the inhabitants lolling on the beach in Florida or that my blood count is so low I can’t get out of my chair, but nevertheless I feel the need…

March 17, 2025 Stop It! This is profound. You don’t really need that top sheet. Holy Smoke. All these years wrestling with the hospital bed square corners for nothing! People probably don’t say “Top of the mornin’ to ye!” either, unless you’re in Ireland and speaking to American tourists. So bite off the top of…

March 11, 2025 Don’t let them fool you . .. . it’s NOT your last chance, you were NOT randomly chosen, NOT because you liked your last purchase . . . the democratic party WILL go on without your donation, it’s NOT a Nigerian prince who wants to be your friend along with your SSN.…

I’m reading an Agatha Christie novel, for the first time in fifty years. Back in my college days I read every one of her thirty or so mysteries and loved them all. So here I am, years later, and I fortunately cannot remember any of them, so it’s a whole new and wonderful experience. And…

FEBRUARY 24, 2025 I have never liked the word blog It looks like “ugly”. It as two of the same letters and even has the same length — enough to qualify for a distant relative. It sounds like only negative words; smog, fog, blech and hog. It probably comes from “blow”, as in “blows no…

February 18, 2025 My Dad would be turning over in his grave (just an expression, people). He brought home a new fangled invention to show his family – a voice recorder. Yup, you speak into this box, and your voice will be recorded on this wire that runs from spool to spool. Wow! Our jaws…

O Tempora, O Mores Two thousand years ago, Cicero lamented the “times, the ways” of contemporary society, how decadent, how immoral they had all become. The Republic in ruins, Julius Caesar assassinated, Augustus taking over command of the government and the Senate in disarray. And now here we are, bemoaning, whining, pointing fingers at the…

O Tempora, O Mores Two thousand years ago, Cicero lamented the “times, the ways” of contemporary society, how decadent, how immoral they had all become. The Republic in ruins, Julius Caesar assassinated, Augustus taking over command of the government and the Senate in disarray. And now here we are, bemoaning, whining, pointing fingers at the…

I can’t let a week go by without commenting on the chaotic havoc the orange-monster-in-the-White House is wreaking on the American public, whether it be Democratic, Republican or Independent. Include his incompetent minions and unqualified appointees and their interference with foreign aid payments ,the mishandling of sensitive federal data as well as unchecked tariffs, not…

I read surveys and questionnaires and they often ask me to put myself in an age group; 20 -40, 50 – 60, 70-80, but almost never older. I’m mildly insulted. Don’t they care what nonagenarians think? Or is it they consider anyone over 80 in their dotage? Doddering? Dim? Unable to express a reasonable opinion?…

I’m back after months of excruciating sadness, gall bladder surgery with complications, hospital beds and a bewildering confrontation with modern medical organization.  What ever happened to Dr. Burgoyne who would come to the house with his black bag?  The students are back, the town is filled with cars looking for parking spaces, and I have…