Like so much else in India, Sri Sankaracharya’s funeral felt dreamlike and foreign, comforting and familiar. When the main ritual began, priests poured offerings on the sage’s head. His bright silk shrouds were soaked with yogurt, honey,
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After a late night drive from the Ramana Ashram to Kanchipuram, Vic and I slept late. When we left our hotel in the morning, hundreds of soldiers in tan uniforms blocked traffic near the Mutt. Thousands of
Read more →Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Juncos are my constant January companions, but Blue Jays bullies are no match for the little Downy Woodpecker female who dominates the suet cake. She doesn’t take shit from anyone. I hear her
Read more →I dream I’m searching for healthy food in a large cafeteria, but can’t find nutritious food or even green tea and feel confused and lost. I turn around and my dead husband Vic stands facing me, masked
Read more →On a melancholy October afternoon, my friend Steve invited me to join him for tea and a torte at his teahouse. He packed a basket with loose leaf green tea, a clay pot, and delicate glass cups
Read more →“I love you, David,” I say when my North Carolina son arrives on Thursday night. Because of the pandemic, I haven’t seen him for 8 months, so I wrap my arms around him and press my cheek
Read more →“Elaine, would you mind if I used this photo as an inspiration for a new watercolor? If I’m happy with the result I’ll send you a print. I’m in love with the stones and the dog. It’s
Read more →Where do I find joy during a plague of covid and pestilence of politicians without mercy for humans or the Earth? How can I survive this isolation and a long winter ahead? Holding back helpless tears, I
Read more →I walk to my husband Vic’s cairn in the forest to honor his life and death. Along the way, I peek in the nesting boxes to see if the bluebird eggs have hatched. I pick lupines near
Read more →The funeral home owner called me after my mother-in-law’s death on Thursday. I’d prearranged for him to pick up her body and deliver it to the crematorium since this was her wish, but I had to identify
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