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Nancy Harris Mclelland
Poetry, Prose, Opinions about Aging from an Ex-cowgirl Octogenarian.


I Don't Need Another Stud
Another Tuscarora Tale That wasn’t the reason my friend Linda called the other morning. But it was big news. She found her breeding...

nancymclelland0
Feb 282 min read


"I'm Fred Harris from Elko. May I borrow a dime?"
With these stories about family, you expect them to know your dad and when they hear the story, “They laugh and say, ‘That’s just like...

nancymclelland0
Feb 283 min read


I've Had Better Days
Another Tuscarora Tale Introduction : In an issue of the Progressive Rancher , Becky Prunty Lisle has a cautionary tale illustrating the...

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Feb 275 min read


Thinking of Names
Another Tuscarora Tale “It’s never inappropriate to name a house.” Martha Stewart “Ask Martha” Living, June 2001 The summer of...

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Feb 278 min read


Stories Matter
This time of year, the dead of winter, was chosen for the first Gathering in 1985 because it’s a time when ranch folks can get...

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Feb 173 min read


AUMs "A Simple Means"
In 1939, Dad took a job in Reno with the University of Nevada Experiment Station as a range assistant. Just out of college, newly...

nancymclelland0
Dec 12, 20246 min read


Why We Lived in Deeth
The events in our lives happen in time, but in their significance to ourselves, they find their own order…the continuous thread of...

nancymclelland0
Nov 5, 20244 min read


He Does Not
He does not come disguised as Brenda Starr’s Black Orchid man, appearing suddenly in the elevator into which I step. He does not come...

nancymclelland0
Aug 2, 20241 min read


Pensee's at the Salon
1. If the Venus of Willendorf Is Packin’ I went to a Drop In’s Welcome salon in Reno the other day and the gal doing hair had some kinda...

nancymclelland0
Aug 2, 20242 min read


You Got to Dance with Who Brung You
“You got to dance with who brung you, swing with who swung you. Don't be a fickle fool…'cause in the long run you'll have more fun, if...

nancymclelland0
Aug 2, 20246 min read


It Always Sounds Better in French
1. L’esprit de l’escalier And there I am at the top of the stair hoping to leave the scene with the perfect bon mot. Home in bed I...

nancymclelland0
Jul 9, 20241 min read


Smitty, Who Died in His Car Somewhere in Arizona
Another Tuscarora Tale One evening, a number of summers ago, my friend James told me this story about the man who lived in the small...

nancymclelland0
Jul 9, 20242 min read


Secular Grace
See this snapshot of an aluminum lawn chair. Notice how the late evening light dignifies plastic chairs or rusted cars, even the carcass...

nancymclelland0
Jul 9, 20241 min read


The Man Who Picks Up Dead Bodies
I was in the middle of my Monday routine at Eagle Fitness doing leg presses on the machine closest to the entrance. Jason, my trainer,...

nancymclelland0
Jun 26, 20245 min read


Non, je ne regrette rien
I wish you had seen the waif in her hand-me-down Elsa gown, arms wide, singing “Let It Go.” She knew the words, this petite chanteuse,...

nancymclelland0
Jun 26, 20241 min read


Still Life with Women (Vermeer’s The Love Letter)
Motes of light grace an apron fold. Garments illuminate a face contemplative and secretive. With lapis lazuli and yellow paint, Vermeer...

nancymclelland0
Jun 26, 20241 min read
May 16th, 2022
This is one of my very favorite quotes: “Even after the worst storm the birds sing and so should we. God wants us to be happy.” Rose...
Nancy Harris Mclelland
May 13, 20241 min read
Aging has its compensations
Virginia Woolfe: “The compensation of growing old [is] that the passions remain as strong as ever, but one has gained — at last! — the...
Nancy Harris Mclelland
May 13, 20241 min read


"Fuck Being Eighty-Six Years Old" Judi Dench, The Guardian. 1/22/21
She thinks of herself taller, younger, thinner, and still a beginner, a doer, desiring to play parts that are risque, even a wee bit...
Nancy Harris Mclelland
May 13, 20241 min read
Act Your Spirit, Not Your Age
Meditation teacher, Light Watkins, on acting your age: "The advice shouldn't be to act your age. It should be to act your spirit. Your...
Nancy Harris Mclelland
May 13, 20241 min read
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