They disagreed about most everything. The right food to feed a baby. The best card game. How much a woman ought to weigh and whether or not she should wear a whalebone corset and stockings even in August heat. Whether she should sit by the pool at the country club or work in the garden […]
On a rare sunny April afternoon, I sit on a round stone near Vic’s cairn and watch the nearby stream. The forest floor is brown with last fall’s leaves. I notice a flash of orange. A butterfly rests on a leaf in the middle of the path, opening and closing its wings while I fumble […]
It will probably be cloudy here, because it’s March in the NY Finger Lakes. Still, on the off chance we have a clear day, I prepare for the solar eclipse. My home is near the Path of Totality. Even if clouds are thick and I can’t see details, I’ll probably experience a noticeable change in […]
“I lost big trees in the recent wind,” I tell the Finger Lakes Land Trust steward who answers my call. “A mature oak, a sugar maple, a big hickory, and a few red maples. Many ash are broken and badly wounded and they’re already struggling to survive. A few big white pines broke off at […]
“But you’re bound to lose If you let the blues get you scared to feel And I feel like I’m just being born Like a shiny light breaking in a storm There are so many reasons why I love him” Joni Mitchell, “Willy” *** “I wish I could do this for you,” Vic said. “I […]
I groped around in the dark searching for my ringing cell phone. It had to be Vic who was resting downstairs. I turned on a low light and made my way to his side. “What do you need, love?” I asked. “I can’t breathe,” he said. “I need to go to the hospital.” This man […]
I hear my husband Vic’s favorite words when he felt pounded by life. “Sometimes you’re the hammer. Sometimes you’re the anvil.” This week I was the anvil being hammered by viral bronchitis, but I’m not alone and know others going through much harder times. I have friends and sons encouraging and supporting me. I don’t […]