What Am I Here After?
Last week, I had an opportunity to look back at an essay I’d written three years ago. I had been so proud of it, otherwise I wouldn’t have submitted it for publication. It got rejected and for good reason. Yikes. Reading that essay was like wandering into a Bed...
Revision Times Infinity
Torrential rain coursed the down mountain yesterday afternoon here at Vanaprastha, creating rivulets along the driveway. This morning, I went out to assess the damage and rake gravel into the erosive paths. Every few years, we hire our landscaper to grade and...
Something Different This Week
Encouraged by last week’s rain, my square-foot garden's squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers leaped beyond the confines of their boxes—as you can see. All other vegetation here at Vanaprastha grew happily, too, including weeds. Thus, in the light of today’s sunshine,...
Butterflies, Flowers, and Disillusionment
Last Saturday afternoon, on my way down the mountain to fetch the mail, I noticed a black swallowtail (Papilionidae) sipping nectar from cardinal flowers blooming on the slope beside the upper driveway. The bright red trumpet-shaped blossoms of lobelia cardinalis,...
On Faring Well
I placed my purse under the table, Bible next to the coffee pot, laptop on a chair then propped reading glasses on my head. It was Tuesday morning, which meant Bible Study in the sunroom at Mary Jane’s farm, and I was the note-taker. Those who wanted coffee helped...
Dogs on Duty
Heathcliff and Freya barked and whined in excitement. “As soon as you sit down, we’ll let the dogs out of our bedroom to greet you,” Keith and I said to our family houseguests. My daughter sat on the sofa, holding her thirteen-month-old daughter in her lap....