I love getting the paper paper

We lived for 35years at the same address in San Rafael. For all that time we had the New York Times delivered to the house. Personal history in that time includes children growing up, coming and going to universities, coming back home after suffering heartbreaks and broken bones, and most devastating the illness and death of my husband Robert Bell in 1995. Still the New York Times was always there. In 2007 the two surviving partners in or Board of Directors, Joanne Fabian and I decided to sell the property. Once it was sold the Times has been online and that has been the only Times in my life, except some Sundays at my Mothers house during her lifetime.

Since moving to San Anselmo last fall we have received the NYT every day. What a gift! I know I have always loved the paper paper – when traveling I always get the English language newspaper that is available and it makes for a more enjoyable breakfast. But because since leaving Magnolia House I often have had more than one address, the online version has seemed fine. But I was always missing the nuggets that the paper paper reveals.

But even more enjoyable and surprising are found often in Obituaries. Stories of brave and indestructible folks you have never heard of – or better said, I have never heard of. Mondays paper has a delightful tale of a woman who died at 101 years! But it was not only her age that was notable – it was the life she lead, beautifully exposed in clear clear and delicious prose.

Not only stories of the dead, but often tales of the truly alive. In the book review a story about a Moroccan woman writer, Leila Slimani, who has a new book out. I have always loved Morocco and for years thought it might be a place for retirement – and then I traveled there as a single woman – I was really wrong. I did still love the old cities, and beautiful architecture and gardens – but the life of women there was appalling! This write expresses some of the issues, historic and current. This would never had made it in the online NYT.

That issue did have a focus on the closing of the Olympics. The closing was as odd as the Opening, strangely beautiful in a way that celebrates technology.