From the moment we master basic locomotive skills, we humans begin to pursue our independence and separate from our parents. It is as natural and ordinary and miraculous a process as any other in the animal kingdom - which is not to say that it is easy, for either child or parent. No matter how … Continue reading Letters from camp.
In the patches of grass along sidewalks in my neighborhood, small, white Stars of Bethlehem are in full bloom, everywhere. They dot the lush green carpet like strands of Christmas lights twinkling in the sun. Ornithogalum umbellatum, that is their proper name. They are the common form of Ornithogalum, considered by many gardeners, most perhaps, … Continue reading Saturday.
How did I know it was safe to park in the yard, away from the street, far up the driveway, by the boat and trucks on cinder blocks, by the workshop where the country music was playing, and down the path from the small country house? This is one of three things she wants to … Continue reading Her three questions, today.
I am in the opposite of a hurry, trying to match my soggy, flip-flopped pace to the slow drizzle that was falling when my passengers got dropped off, before I maneuvered the car in between two mammoth SUVs, slipped it into gear in the vast, mostly-empty parking lot. A fraction of a second later, just … Continue reading Bullseye.
Here's what my village people are saying: sit down and finish writing the damn book. Here's what I love about my village people: they are right. So, no new post this week; but here's one from the past that maybe you'll enjoy. Happy week. Starting Over. (originally published January 15, 2013) She's a Savannah girl, … Continue reading The village people
My head is cloudy with spring, tangled in a thick sneeze-inducing blanket, suspended in mid-season limbo. Hot one day and chilly the next. Pollen, rain, clear, pollen. The last weeks of March and first of April are like children alternately running with abandon and coming in close for a snuggle, not sure if they're little … Continue reading Spring of consciousness
Water, light and food. If wall charts could talk, they'd tell you these are the things plants need to survive, to advance from seeds into leaf bearers. Wall charts work better, of course, with human interpreters: gardeners, farmers, teachers. It's one thing to diagram photosynthesis but another to act out how plants grow cattywampus if … Continue reading Seeds.
My sister and I stifled laughter throughout our mother’s funeral. The minister was not trying to be funny. He had scarcely known our mother because she did not like him or his newfangled church policies. At her service he retold stories we’d told him only 48 hours before, and in his folksy manner he inadvertently … Continue reading Laying Betty to rest.
