by Carole Duff | Mar 7, 2017 | Faith, Family, Nature, Writing and Reading |
Last Wednesday afternoon, a storm packing high wind gusts blew in, downing trees and deck furniture. Our dogs sought comfort from Keith—I was in Charlottesville—and hid in the basement. On my drive home that day, and upon arrival, I found evidence of the storm’s...
by Carole Duff | Dec 26, 2016 | Faith, Family |
On Christmas Eve Day, I felt a little blue. Maybe it was the rain and fog. Maybe I longed for Christmases past with my children, now adults with lives of their own. Maybe I was just feeling sorry for myself. Betsy Lerner’s snarky humor spoke to me. “The holidays...
by Carole Duff | Dec 20, 2016 | Dogs & Other Creatures, Faith, Family |
Our dogs look to Keith and me for approval. “Good girl, Freya,” we say, “good boy, Heathcliff,” when they’ve obeyed a command. We often stroke them, too, even when they haven’t done anything, just because we love them. Heathcliff likes approval but loves routine....
by Carole Duff | Dec 12, 2016 | Faith, Family, Local or Human Interest |
I’d run a few too many errands last Thursday afternoon. So when Keith invited me for pizza at Blue Mountain Brewery, I weighed cooking with eating out and said yes to pizza. “It’s early and shouldn’t be too crowded on an off-night,” he said. I felt an end-of-the-day...
by Carole Duff | Dec 5, 2016 | Faith, Family, Local or Human Interest |
Perhaps you’ve seen an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol, a ghost story of Christmas. Last year, my daughter, son, and his partner visited us at Christmastime. As part of our festivities, we attended the American Shakespeare Center’s...
by Carole Duff | Nov 28, 2016 | Faith, Family, Local or Human Interest |
Last Friday afternoon, I stopped by our local grocery store to pick up a baguette and tomatoes—grape, slicing, and canned—for a soup-and-salad lunch I planned to make on Sunday after church. The checkout girl excused herself, saying she needed to run to the bank for...