Category: Essay
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The Second Mrs. de Winter, to be or not to be?
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why? As an avid reader my whole life, I have many “favorite books” and the list of the top ten continues to change and evolve over the decades and years of my reading life. The same 2 or 3 titles…
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Good Friday at the Shrine of St. Jude Catholic Church, Rockville, Maryland
It’s no secret that our pastor, Fr. Paul Lee, is fond of classical music, and he has commented that his favorite instrument is the cello. Over the years that he has been pastor at the Shrine of St. Jude in Rockville, MD, he has hosted several concerts featuring area musicians. This year as part of…
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Je parle un peu français, mais pas très bien!
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had? The French language and I have been at odds for years, decades even. I took French in high school, but I have no memory of it. I don’t even remember who my teacher was or who was in my class. In fact, did…
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Country Mouse to City Mouse
Today is Thursday, March 12, 2026, and it is snowing here in Rockville, Maryland, a suburb of the Washington, DC metropolitan area. MARCH…it’s snowing in MARCH. After the winter we have had, it’s really in poor form for it to be snowing today. Now, granted, the ground is far too warm for anything to stick,…
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Giggling My Way Out of Trouble
Have you ever unintentionally broken the law? A very long time ago in a small town very far away I was working as a paralegal in a small real estate company. Unfortunately the salary wasn’t quite enough to allow me to live on my own. So, in order to be able to rent an apartment…
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Is Chili a Soup?
My daughter has this question she poses to people: Is the hotdog a sandwich? The responses are varied and often strongly held opinions of the respondent. (FWIW, I believe the hotdog is a sandwich, as it’s something between two layers of bread.) So, is chili a soup? It’s eaten with a spoon from a bowl.…
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How We Met
See my latest published piece, a personal essay on how my husband and I met, in the February issue of Sasee magazine. https://sasee.com/essay/love-at-first-bite/
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Fits Me to a Tea
What’s your dream job? Lucky me, I married into a Louisiana restaurant family, and even better, a family who owned a restaurant I had been patronizing long before I met my husband. After we became a couple, I was allowed “in the back” as we always entered through the screen door to the kitchen. The…
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He’s not a Westie, but …
What is your favorite animal? I was a cat person my entire life, and had owned multiple Persian cats for decades, until a Catholic nun needed to rehome her beloved 4-year-old dog in 2011. Mutual friends—who knew how badly I had always wanted a Westie (to mark my mother’s Scottish heritage)—connected me with Sister Marie,…
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Sedentary Should Be Secondary!
What are your biggest challenges? Like quite a few people I suspect, I “follow” a lot of fitness routines on social media. Tai Chi. Chair Yoga. Asian Pilates. Japanese Walking. Chinese Baduanjin. Shaolin. Couch to Fitness. And then there are the fitness instructors/influencers. Justin Agustin. Grow Young Fitness with Deron Buboltz. Align with Wellness with…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 