My family enjoys extravaganzas. It was my husband Vic’s style. If you can’t celebrate in a big way, why bother? I remember my surprise birthday party staged by Vic in 1968. Friends walked down the hill toward our Cayuga
Read more →My Land and Home
Go outside and plant, a wise voice in me said. You need flowers. Garden plants sat on the porches and at the side of the house. They were hardened off and ready to go in the ground. Part
Read more →“I need a hinge for an exterior door,” I tell the man at Agway. “It’s this way,” he says, waving his hand in the direction he’s walking. He’s a thick man, muscular and short. He wears a
Read more →I watched the twin nesting boxes for days in April. Cold wind blasted rain against the house windows. Then it snowed. Bluebirds were late. Would they ever come? Years ago, my husband Vic rebuilt a remnant of
Read more →My life is divided into Before—the time between meeting my husband Vic in 1966 and his death in 2008—and After. I am no longer a wife and partner. I am still a mother, although my adult sons
Read more →In 1967, Vic persuaded me to lie in a sleeping bag on the cold ground in March. We held each other while waves of green, yellow, and pink tinted the sky—a divine aurora borealis lightshow. It was
Read more →My legs ache and a blister throbs, but I don’t stop or slow down. I focus on the copper vessel ahead of me with its beaded red cloth cover. It holds water collected four days ago at
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
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