“What the hell did you do to my forsythia?” I screeched. “We agreed it was too big. It took over the whole yard,” Vic said. “You’re being a bitch.” “That was my bush. You didn’t ask me.”
Read more →Family and Friends
“You sit in front,” Liz offers. “No, you sit with David,” I say. She belongs next to David, not me. My son David, his bride Liz, and I head for Watkins Glen State Park on this glorious
Read more →The trees loomed ancient and prehistoric in the fog. Vic loved their height. He arched his back and looked up to the gray sky. I loved the dark hollows within the circular clusters of redwoods. I climbed
Read more →Before Grandpa died when I was nine, I often visited my grandparent’s farm where Dad had been raised. I lived with my parents and brother in Mexico, Missouri, 12,000 inhabitants, Audrain County seat with an old fashioned
Read more →I don’t cook as much as I used to. It’s a shame, since I spent years perfecting healthy vegetarian recipes for my family and posting recipes for nutrition clients on my website. It’s less interesting to cook for
Read more →As soon as you begin to ask the question, Who loves me? You are completely screwed, Because the next question is How Much?… ~Tony Hoagland, “The Loneliest Job in the World” And after that, Does he love
Read more →It was only a little flu. After Thanksgiving break, Vic’s students often returned to campus with international viruses. His flu shot wasn’t effective, even though mine was. Just the luck of the draw. Symptoms weren’t severe—runny nose,
Read more →The day after Liz and David’s wedding, we cleaned-up, congratulated ourselves about how well everything had gone, and played a few rounds of disc golf. (I provided comic relief for the real players.) Monday morning, Lauren Cottrell
Read more →Three-year-old David snuggled on our friend Jeanne Astor’s lap in an Ithaca clothing store. “What’s your daddy like?” a saucy saleswoman asked curly-topped David. “My daddy’s tough as nails,” David said with all the bravado he could
Read more →We wake up to blue skies, our weather prayers answered. Friends arrive to do the set-up postponed by yesterday’s storm. Men roll up the sides of the reception tent to air out the sandy soil and then
Read more →