Browsed by
Category: Vayo

Bob & Ray
Recipe for laughter

Recipe for laughter

Comments 2 comments

Bill’s wife, Barbara, whipped up another batch of comfort food over the weekend. She made several loaves of Cranberry Nut Bread, using Mom’s tried-and-true recipe. Bill brought a loaf with him to this week’s visit with Dad. They chuckled about a favorite Bob & Ray comedy routine that involved a “fast-breaking news” interview with The Cranberry Man: Mom and Dad loved Bob & Ray, and delighted in all the ridiculous characters and parodies they developed over the years. My parents…

Read More Read More

Mom taking a nap, covered by the cherry spread
The cherry spread

The cherry spread

Comments 1 comment

With all the talk of viruses in the news lately (and a century ago), I think back to the comfort, warmth, and healing provided for many years by the cherry spread. Mom only used the cherry spread when we were ill. The cherry spread plus slowly-sipped ginger ale took care of any number of tummy aches and “bugs.” (To this day, ginger ale tastes like medicine to me.) In many hours of digging, I’ve only found one photo that includes…

Read More Read More

hurricane headline
The great wind

The great wind

Comments 0 Comment

All my life, Dad has talked about what a scamp he was as a kid. Yet, there were no stories to back up his claim. Was this silence on his part due to not wanting to set a bad examples for his four children? Perhaps. It’s only now that the confessions are spilling forth. As his confessor, I am impressed, but not yet mortified. Here’s a story: Times have changed over the generations, thank heavens. Back in the 1930s, Catholics…

Read More Read More

A rose on the altar on Ash Wednesday, Mom and Tom, 1985
Poems: Ash Wednesday, Psalm

Poems: Ash Wednesday, Psalm

Comments 0 Comment

Here are two of Mom’s poems to commemorate Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten Season. ash wednesday nails in the nesta night bird falling and in the housessomethingout of a dark holewet now on the courthouse stepsa dwarfthumbing his nose the bridein jewels before the frosted windowwaits the wind stirsa star under the ground the gold eggs gleam ~ joan vayo 24 February 1979 psalm what birdwaits here in darknessunder the death of the beloved by the lake the…

Read More Read More

Rodger McFarlane on YouTube
The unlikely friend

The unlikely friend

Comments 3 comments

My younger brother, Bill, has a knack for making friends with some unusual characters. Take Rodger McFarlane, for example. You may know him as Tommy Boatwright from Larry Kramer’s seminal work, The Normal Heart (Jim Parsons played him in the Broadway revival and HBO movie). I know Rodger from a different genre. He authored an important book. Bill sent a copy of Rodger’s book to Gary and me in 2004, when Gary’s mom was dying of cancer. She had told…

Read More Read More

Madam Queen purple plush kitty
Madam Queen

Madam Queen

Comments 2 comments

She was regal. She dripped with jewels. Her royal standing knew no equal. And she was purple. I don’t know why, but memories of Madam Queen came rushing back yesterday. And not just my affection for the oversized purple plush kitty cat, but how I got her. Madam Queen, or Maddy if you knew her well, was a gift. Not a birthday present, not a Christmas package, one of those “just because” gifts. Grandma Cassidy came to visit shortly after…

Read More Read More

Mom's Pittsfield kitchen
Recipe for love

Recipe for love

Comments 2 comments

Dad stopped in his tracks, inhaled deeply, smiled, and declared: It smells like Mom! No, I didn’t sneak a spritz from the perfume bottle that still sits on her dresser. And I didn’t raid their bathroom cabinet for shampoo or lotion. Even better. Gary and I had a pot roast simmering in the slow cooker. I wish I’d taken a photo of the finished product. But then again, pot roast is not known for its photogenic qualities. Sidenote: If you…

Read More Read More

Gary & Paula Werne wedding chariot, 1982
The transformation

The transformation

Comments 4 comments

Today is February 10, which marks the anniversary of the moment Gary and my paths first crossed in 1981. I recently came across a one-page narrative that I frankly don’t remember writing. Long before blogs existed and long after I’d given up on hand-writing a diary, I must have felt the need to capture thoughts about my personal transformation. This was written shortly before Gary and I married; something had truly changed: I’d sooner die than move to Indiana! Not…

Read More Read More

Columbia space shuttle crew
Remember Columbia

Remember Columbia

Comments 0 Comment

Today marks the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. As the shuttle returned to Earth on February 1, 2003, it broke apart upon re-entry to our planet’s atmosphere. The faces in the crew photo, above, express such hope and excitement. The astronauts are full of knowledge and curiosity. And youth. They look so young. Here are their names, from left: mission specialist David Brown. commander Rick Husband, mission specialist Laurel Clark, mission specialist Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist Michael Anderson,…

Read More Read More

Officer Frank Cassidy
‘The King My Father’

‘The King My Father’

Comments 2 comments

A week before Mom’s passing, I asked her about what is perhaps my favorite poem, “The King My Father.” At that point, her ability to speak had lessened greatly. Parkinson’s had cruelly robbed her of simple conversation. She regressed from struggling to remember a specific word to the point that she’d start a sentence but would stop after two or three words. And so when I asked her for the backstory about her poem “The King My Father,” my own…

Read More Read More