“It’s July 19. Where have you been? Just a few years ago, I saw your ancestors by the beginning of June.” Don’t scold me, he says, hiding his hind black and orange wings behind a milkweed leaf. I’m doing my best. There was drought in Mexico all winter and few flowers survived. Without pollen, many […]
I sit on my back porch on a May evening and watch the hazy Moon rise over the forest. I count on Her rhythmic waxing and waning, beaming peace as the Earth bickers and burns. Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks sing love songs from a nearby tree. We called Grosbeak males “Angel Voice.” I count on their spring […]
The forest is green with moss and ferns. Fiddleheads near the stream are ready to harvest and the maple trees dropped their tiny red flowers on the forest floor. Trout lilies finish their season just as Trillium begins theirs. The dogs love to run along the trails, but I climb the hill to Vic’s Red […]
In Mexico, Missouri where Dad had gone to high school and Grandpa was a Friday regular at the Jefferson Hotel, I was an insider. Daddy knew everyone and, as far as I could tell, everyone loved him. My grandparent’s tumble-down farm was 10 miles out of town, but Grandma still wore pearls and a whalebone […]
“What do you want to do when you visit, Mom?” I don’t hesitate. “Let’s go to the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory. I haven’t been there for years.” My son David laughs. He knows I love butterflies, and he lives an hour from the world-class butterfly house in Durham, North Carolina. […]
Two days before my dead husband Vic’s birthday, I received an email from a stranger in England. Kel Mansfield had found Vic’s first cousin in Canada through AncestryDNA, and she told him about Vic. After looking at Vic’s website, Kel knew Vic was his half-brother. Vic’s posthumous website includes his scientific and philosophic papers, and […]
Daddy was sad and quiet. Mommy cleared her throat and dabbed her eyes with a tissue. Uncle Jim and Aunt Martha arrived without my cousins. I was 9 years old and soaked in impending doom, but no one said a word. They thought I was too little to know the truth, but I wanted to […]