On January 7, thick wet snow fell for the first time this winter. I wasn’t worried. I knew my friend and helper Matt had his eye on the weather. When my husband Vic had lymphoma in 2006, he was too sick to split firewood, so Vic looked for help to take care of our property. […]

A man I’ve known since he was a boy put up his yearly Holiday Star, high in an old Spruce tree near the road. I look forward to this every December. Thank you, Brett Beardslee. In the forest, ferns cling to green along the path and Oaks rule like kings and Queens—White, Red, and Black. […]

She glides across clear night skies, growing larger and brighter and fuller as I watch Her from my home on Earth.           While humans drop bombs, destroy forests, and pollute Earth’s water, She witnesses our destruction from afar.         I watch Her rise and set, somehow reassured by […]

An elderly man stood inside the door of the library. He took a wobbly step toward me, nodded, smiled, and said something in a raspy voice I couldn’t hear. He’d been tall once, but was stooped, rounded, and frail with wispy white hair and loose khaki pants bunched at the waist. His hands were large, […]

Anxiety wants to be my friend. I know because she crawls into bed with me every night. I awaken before dawn and she’s still there, clutching my belly and rattling my mind. It helps a little when my sweet pup Disco lies on my feet, the warm presence of another living being. It helps a […]

In 1981, my husband Vic organized a “friendly” competition. The Ball Diamond Rd. team of close friends who lived a few miles away went vine to pumpkin against our team, the Picnic Area Road team. There were no set rules and no history to lean on, although later there would be disagreement about unspoken assumptions. […]