Day In Bloom: Happy Bloomsday, everyone! In case you don’t know:
Bloomsday is a commemoration observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere to celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce and relive the events in his novel Ulysses, all of which took place on the same day in Dublin in 1904.
It’s such [...]

When she started to clock up the years in earnest, everyone looked away and tried not to mention it. But now Virginia Ironside is actually sixty – well, sixty-five if she’s honest – she’s can’t see what all the fuss was about. She’s thrilled to be old. Growing ancient is not a loss but a gain.

Suddenly Anthony the dog can do nothing but scratch. Everyone finds this disgusting – including Anthony – and soon it’s time for a visit to the vet.

I read it in the 70s, and I remember two things. The girl rearranged her mother’s broom closet, which was a big hit, and the finale scene was a backyard fair for a club she was in. She thought it was a terrible idea to have this carnival thing, and no one in the [...]