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Nancy Harris Mclelland
Poetry, Prose, Opinions about Aging from an Ex-cowgirl Octogenarian.
Had I been on the Titanic
probably, I would have busied myself arranging deckchairs, maybe dusting, while I ignored the screaming, the pushing and shoving and...
nancymclelland0
Aug 131 min read
Getting Old Happens So Fast
Not long ago, perhaps last evening, while I was relaxing on the deck, a book on my lap, bony feet propped on a stool, I watched my...
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Aug 131 min read
nancymclelland0
Aug 130 min read
The Tuscarora Painter Makes a Request
Will you fix the distance for me? Hold it with a horse and rider. They seem to know where they’re going. Hold it with the dust plume of a...
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Jul 231 min read
Tuscarora Power Pole Perspective
From that rough-legged hawk’s point of view a field mouse is more interesting than you.
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Jul 231 min read
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Zero-Based Housecleaning
Apologies to William Carlos Williams 1. Burn down the house. Be certain it’s your house. Don’t rush to save the...
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Jul 231 min read
nancymclelland0
Jul 230 min read
Coming Home from Carmel
Coming home from Carmel in an SUV with four other women, don’t worry about looking silly as you file into the ladies room at the Quick...
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Jul 231 min read
Look Closely
Susanna and the Elders by Lorenzo Lotto, 1517 See the overweight woman in a red dress? The tiny figure reminds me of my dead mother. Look...
nancymclelland0
Jul 231 min read
She Ruined the Picnic
Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe She ruined the picnic when she took off her clothes. No peeking, no sneaking, nothing to suppose. I wore...
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Jul 231 min read
L’appel du vide at Eighty
That fancy name for the impulse to jump from the top of the Empire State, climb over the rail of the Golden Gate, step off the Grand...
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Jul 231 min read
She Hears It Whirring in the Darkened Room
She hears it whirring in the darkened room and knows another summer bat has found its passage to her tangled August dream of fruit and...
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Jul 231 min read
Bury Me Not
Another Tuscarora Tale Nothing matters to the dead/ that's what's so hard for the rest of us/ to take in-/ their complete...
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Jul 98 min read
What Would Annie Oakley Do?
Another Tuscarora Tale This spring I asked Harry if he would please cut down an overhanging chokecherry branch...
nancymclelland0
Jun 183 min read
How Things End
It is not only at the opera that we think of life as a story and wish it to end well. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow...
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Jun 187 min read
Driving Under the Influence of Annie Lamott or That Was a Dumb Idea
Another Tuscarora Tale This is not one of those “You had to be there” stories. It is one of those “Have you ever taken a wrong...
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Jun 118 min read
Oh My Heck! Adventurous Eating in Central Utah
Note to the reader: I wrote this in 2015 for my cousins Patti and Chris and especially for my sister, Itha. June 1015. It is...
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May 2116 min read
One Helluva Close Call
Another Tuscarora Tale “The flames that neared Tuscarora were part of the Dunphy Complex of fires that scorched roughly 163,00 acres.” ...
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May 166 min read
Upon First Reading “Tintern Abbey”
I first read “Tintern Abbey'' at Tintern Abbey on April 21, 2012. I was sitting in the back seat of David’s VW Passat with a cd playing...
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May 71 min read
Guns, Horses, a Tripod and Transit–When a Government Job Was Cool
In 1938, Dad graduated from Utah State University with a degree in range management. The 1930s were a significant time for...
nancymclelland0
Apr 166 min read
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