Living • Published Nov 23, 2023 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
The autumn time change always hits me in the face. I’m never quite prepared, even though it happens every year. I know it’s coming. I know it’s only an hour difference. Y...
Living • Published Oct 26, 2023 07 am
By Juliana Gribbins
After spending seven hours in the ER, what I want when I get home is food. And monsters. I grab a bite and turn on the TV. I’m leaned back among my pillows, exhausted. Ha...
Living • Published Jul 20, 2023 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
When I leave the office building, the first thing I notice is the smell. It’s like walking onto a campground when it’s evening and everyone is busting out the marshmallow...
Living • Published Jun 23, 2023 08 am
By Juliana Gribbins
It’s 3 a.m. Of course, I’m awake. My mind’s worry jukebox begins to spin the latest and greatest hits. Then I hear a sound that’s instantly familiar and comforting. The l...
Living • Published Apr 20, 2023 08 am
By Juliana Gribbins
There’s a chill in the air, but the days are becoming long, stretching out like sweet taffy. I drive in blazing noon light to a gathering of long-time friends. Good frie...
Living • Published Mar 08, 2023 02 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
“We are having difficulty,” a voice over the intercom states.
These are not words you want to hear when you’re on a plane.
Here on the Shoreline, there are people called ...
Living • Published Jan 19, 2023 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
When Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog, pokes his head out of his wintry hidey hole and sees his shadow, he retreats to wait out six more weeks of winter. If he do...
Living • Published Nov 17, 2022 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
Why is my window closed, I wonder? Oh yes, it was raining.
I push the window up and let the air in. It’s time for sleep, but this isn’t good sleeping weather. The air is ...
Living • Published Sep 22, 2022 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
I’m sitting in my living room wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. It’s weird. My windows are open and the only sound I hear is the light whirr of a window fan. That’s...
Living • Published Aug 18, 2022 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
When August begins its languid descent on the summer season, I think of my father. I think of my father every day, but there’s something about August that makes me think ...
Living • Published Jul 21, 2022 12 am
I’d like to tell you about a day. It starts off with a flat tire. Never a good thing. Triple A comes and puts on the spare, but since it’s Sunday I can’t get the tire fix...
Features • Published May 19, 2022 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
Like the groundhog peeking up out of his hidey hole to see if there’s a shadow, I emerge from my winter lair. I’m ready for an old-time night out, circa 2019.
I go with F...
Features • Published Mar 17, 2022 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
They call it “Fool’s Spring.” Deep down I know it won’t last, but when it arrives every year, I’m the biggest fool for it.
Fool’s Spring lulls the mind into thinking that...
Features • Published Feb 16, 2022 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
It starts from across the room and then moves toward me. It’s the sound of...something. I don’t know what it is, but I do know it’s coming in my direction, and I don’t li...
Features • Published Dec 22, 2021 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
There is a Christmas tree shortage. Yes, it’s another COVID Christmas and this year the supply chain is affecting trees as well as ornaments and gift items. The one thing...
Features • Published Nov 18, 2021 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
As I walk toward the shop, there’s an inferno of color rustling above my head. Reds, oranges, yellows. The leaves are at peak and a steady breeze loosens some, causing th...
Features • Published Oct 21, 2021 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
The Connecticut shoreline can be downright spooky at this time of year. Driving down local backroads, you see old houses that look like they’d be a perfect habitat for th...
Features • Published Sep 23, 2021 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
They dance across the lawn like two garden fairies, through the flooded grass, bathed in weak moonlight. Who could be angry as these two sprites twirl into view? No one. ...
Features • Published Aug 19, 2021 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
“See that?” she says. “The light is changing.”
“No, it’s not,” I reply with a smile.
Mom looks over and smiles back. “The light is changing and it’s getting dark a little...
Features • Published Jul 22, 2021 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
Sometimes a conversation says it all. I hear this one at the local post office.
“So, you know my truck is out of commission, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Wait ‘til you hear this. I h...
Features • Published Jun 17, 2021 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
The lilacs are in full bloom and the pollen is turning everything yellow. So, it must look odd that I’m carrying an arm full of packages with Santas and wreaths all over ...
Features • Published May 20, 2021 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
It should feel like dawn. I’ve gotten my second vaccine shot and am drifting through the two-week waiting period until I’m considered fully vaccinated. It should feel lik...
Features • Published Apr 22, 2021 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
It’s dark and the wind is yowling. The entire house shakes as gusts beat at the walls like twin fists and rattle the windows. I sit at my laptop and tap keys then squint ...
Features • Published Mar 18, 2021 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
I’ve reached a rather strange and unhappy anniversary. The last time I ate inside a restaurant was a year ago. I had a blue martini and oysters stuffed with lobster. I fi...
Features • Published Feb 10, 2021 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
So it’s come to this. I’m pushing a giant piece of furniture across the rug, wondering if I’m going to like where I put it. I sure do hope so, because moving it is like m...
Features • Published Jan 13, 2021 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
Well, I’m glad that’s over.
It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m at Club Couch with Netflix as my date. This, of course, is not what I would have pictured last January. It isn’t w...
Features • Published Dec 09, 2020 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
This year I’m haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.
When I think of Christmas past, as in 2019, I think of gatherings. I think of chilly black nig...
Features • Published Nov 11, 2020 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
You know that dream you have where you’re in school and you suddenly realize there’s a class you haven’t attended all year? Not only that, there’s a test?
I was a solid B...
Features • Published Oct 15, 2020 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
I don’t know about you all, but since this pandemic got started, I feel like I’m a different person. So different that I’m compelled to name my new, unwelcome pandemic pe...
Features • Published Sep 10, 2020 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
Ever click your heels three times only to realize that you’re wearing the wrong shoes?
What occurs that afternoon is later classified as a “microburst,” but let me be cle...
Features • Published Aug 13, 2020 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
In the pandemic version of Footloose, Kevin Bacon is not the hero. Sorry, Kevin. These are strange times indeed and the heroes are the people you wouldn’t expect.
There a...
Features • Published Jun 11, 2020 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
What a long, strange trip to nowhere this has been. Like most of us on the shoreline, I’ve been staying put. My car voyages have been short and local. I’ve hardly even ha...
Features • Published May 14, 2020 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
Even in the middle of a pandemic, it can sometimes be about the little things. Here are some little things that I’ve noticed as we’ve all been coping with this odd new wo...
Features • Published Apr 16, 2020 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
I lay down on the table and wait for the needle stick. It’s not bad at all. Just a little pinch. No, I’m not being tested for COVID-19. Not yet. I’m giving blood. I give ...
Features • Published Mar 12, 2020 12 am
It’s getting later in the evening and the tension is peaking. We’re all leaned forward, eyeballing each other and whispering. Do you know? No? Do you? I might. Really? Ok...
Features • Published Feb 12, 2020 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
My phone buzzes as I’m on the couch with a scary novel clutched in my hands. I jump a little at the sound. My heavy quilt falls to the floor as I reach for the phone. Whi...
Features • Published Jan 15, 2020 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
It starts innocently enough. My mom’s phone rings and she picks it up.
Then my phone rings at work. I pick it up.
When I hear my mom’s voice on the other end say, “Julie,...
Features • Published Dec 11, 2019 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
Untangling Christmas lights isn’t my favorite job, but to tell you the truth, I don’t mind doing it. It’s all part of my Christmas decorating ritual.
It’s peaceful as I b...
Features • Published Nov 13, 2019 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
Swiftie and I like scary movies so we go to see It: Chapter 2. The movie is frightening, but real life ends up being more unsettling than what’s on screen.
We get our tic...
Features • Published Oct 10, 2019 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
My alarm goes off and it’s pitch black outside. My hand flops like a fish next to the clock. I can’t reach it. With a grunt I prop myself onto my elbows, scoot up, and ro...
Features • Published Sep 12, 2019 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
A couple of columns ago I wrote that I had a high school reunion coming up and that I wasn’t going to go. Well, I lied.
I drive from the relatively cool shores of the Con...
Features • Published Aug 15, 2019 12 am
It’s a summer sunset. Cola and I are saddled up at an outside bar. She turns to a gorgeous man next to her and says, “Hey! Hey! What’s your name?” She flashes a megawatt ...
Features • Published Jul 25, 2019 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
Summer has always meant a lot of great things. Sunny skies, beach roses, barbecues. The best thing about summer is and always has been kicking off my shoes.
As a child I ...
Features • Published Jun 13, 2019 12 am
Summer on the shoreline is glorious. There are many things I know I will be doing and I’m really looking forward to them all. I’ll be boating, eating softshell crab, watc...
Features • Published May 20, 2019 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
I’ve done that terrible thing again. I’ve fallen asleep on the couch watching TV. It’s one o’clock in the morning and I wake up feeling like the Bent-Neck Lady from The H...
Features • Published Apr 11, 2019 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
In my previous column I wrote about attempting to crash a reality TV show. The show is about a restaurant renovation and the weekend plays out like a medieval fantasy que...
Features • Published Mar 14, 2019 12 am
By Juliana Gribbins
Crashing a reality TV show was never an item on my bucket list. Nonetheless, I can now cross it off. You never know what can happen here on the shoreline. Sometimes it on...
Features • Published Feb 13, 2019 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
There’s a really old, really awful TV show that was around before I was born called My Mother the Car. In the show a man’s car is possessed by his deceased Mom and wreaks...
Features • Published Jan 16, 2019 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
When I go Christmas shopping, I find more things for myself than for anyone else. I know this is selfish, but it’s the way it goes. I like a lot of things.
In my favorite...
Features • Published Dec 12, 2018 11 pm
By Juliana Gribbins
The best Christmas present I ever got was a dollhouse. It was the same height as I was and built by my mother. I remember opening the wide doors as a seven-year-old and n...
