When I was very young, I had a strange obsession with the piano. We didn’t have one when this all started, probably when I was four or five years old, but every time we visited a friend with one, I liked to sit at the long bench and stretch my fingers across the keys. I […]
kinder, gentler
The night before last, I found myself on the edge of a field at dusk, watching the spectacle of the male American woodcock. During mating season, he sits near the trees and makes a funny beeping sort of noise, then spirals high into the air before descending as he chirps. I had never seen this […]
i could really use a wish right now
Headed off to bed, I was in my pajamas when I saw the news: the Perseid meteor showers were happening at that very moment! I had known for days, partly from habit of looking for these particular meteors every year, and partly from the EarthSky News. I don’t always read the news carefully, I admit, […]
coming home
I have been away again, this time on my first trip to England. A great friend, whom I met while writing for an earlier blog, invited me to celebrate his and his wife’s birthday by visiting the famed Wild Hare Club in Hereford. The club is not, as the name might imply, an actual physical […]
agnès
I discovered the work of Agnès Varda far too late, so late that I only paid close attention when she came to Harvard last year. She was a gem. Particularly, when I watched her film about gleaners, I understood that she had something special in her, something I aspire to. I wanted to lap up […]
español
I used to speak Spanish well. The timing was bad. My best year speaking Spanish overlapped the year I lived in France. I spent an unreasonable amount of time flirting with the Argentinean director of the youth housing in Paris, after a summer of sangria, salsa dancing, and getting over Eduardo. Eventually, though, I had […]
resolution
Last night, I gave a hearty “good riddance” to 2017. The year was awful, in so many ways–not just for me, I know, but I can speak only of my own reactions to outside events, and my own personal experiences. While many others resisted, and admirably so, I went so far as to resist life […]
cedar 1
When I was growing up, we had a closet under the basement stairs that was lined in cedar. It was filled with my mom’s marvelous clothing from her days before marriage, before us. Glamorous pieces, some made by her, from the 1950s and 60s. She was a fashion plate, even in the small town where […]
about last night
As I came into the dining room this moming, I saw it there: last night’s bottle, empty, a memory of ruby lush, the elegance of beef, savored, save the last five bottles now, make them last, like the autumn red, gold, golden weekend, wish it were longer–don’t we all?–they say. But do we? Or do […]
pear
In two days, summer will be gone. We already have said goodbye to the warmth, really, unpacked our books and sweaters, and buttoned up to more serious things than a flip-flop and an ice cream bar. Team-building meetings have been organized in offices all across the land, an apple for the teacher, and even on […]
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