All I want for Christmas is better GPS
I peered into the dark intersection, trying to figure out which way to go. Before leaving the house, I’d printed out the Google maps directions to the pastor’s house, and Keith had programmed our car’s seven-year-old GPS. The GPS voice directed us a different way,...
Scrooge is still Scrooge
I sat in our truck at the bottom of the mountain road, checking for an awaited phone call and sorting the mail I’d just picked up. One piece of mail in particular provoked a sigh. It had been long day; I was running late. There’d been traffic in Charlottesville on...
First snow of the season and on being indispensable
It began gently before sunrise on Saturday morning, a cold, steady flow of fine flakes—the season’s first snow. I let Freya out to do her business and bark at the deer foraging in the forest. At daylight, she came back looking like an Iditarod sled-race dog, her...
Winter Blooms
Last month’s killing frosts had rendered our meadow plants dormant. It was time to mow before snow arrived. On Saturday morning, Keith fueled and started the gas-powered weed-whacker for me then held it while I donned ear and eye protections and adjusted the...
Please put a penny in the old man’s hat
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat Please put a penny in the old man’s hat. After celebrating a delightful Thanksgiving with Keith’s family in Northern Virginia, we spent the night, brunched the next morning then drove home via Route 7West. Near the...
Winter is coming
Half or fully dead trees hit the gravel with a crack, temporarily blocking access to our driveway. Today, Keith and I took down a few trees and cut them into firewood. Our efforts were pre-emptive and practical because “winter is coming.” People familiar with Game...