If a tree falls in a forest
If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Arriving at Vanaprastha in the evening last weekend, we saw a tree lying across the driveway turnaround. In our headlights, the yellow-tinted leaves looked like a maple’s, but in...
When I’m worried
When I’m worried and I can’t sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep. And I fall asleep counting my blessings. That might have worked for Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby, but I use a different technique. Whenever this New England Eeyore senses...
Stink Bug Rant
I hate stink bugs. Unlike garden spiders and walking sticks, I get no joy watching these brown crawlers swarm up the side of the house facing the sun then hide in the cracks waiting to get inside. As soon as any door opens, in they fly or drop to climb under...
Goose Winters
Colorful foliage, Goose Winter and Indian Summer often characterize autumns in New England. The term “Indian Summer” is well known, but I was unable to find any information online about the derivation of the expression “Goose Winter”. When I asked, Mother said, “I...
Phasmids and Oak Trees
In advance of winter, Vanaprastha teams with reproductive activity, from oak trees peppering the ground with acorns to unseen frogs calling availability in chorus from the treetops, a little Leisure-Suit Larry romancing the large female orb-weaver at our back door...
Autumn Equinox
How beautiful, the fragile wings of unseen things How terrible the transience of misplaced dreams In my pocket there hides a scrap That has written finely ‘Je t’aime’ Unguessed by you there hides a key To the portal you’ve search for, to me Stars glide, spinning in...