Distractions

“With a new awareness, both painful and humorous, I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women. I am convinced it has nothing inherently to do, as I once supposed, with chastity or children. It has to do primarily with distractions. The bearing,...

Honor

On Monday, July 15, 2013, we travelled to Arlington National Cemetery to say a final goodbye to Keith’s Dad, Edward W. Kenny, Jr., Col., US Air Force Retired. Family and friends gathered at the Administration Building where the Cemetery Representative and Military...

A Visit to Grandma

“Freya, come. Heathcliff, come. Let’s go for a ride in the car. We’re going to visit Grandma.” Last week, after the storm front passed bringing cooler temperatures and lower humidity, Keith and I loaded up the Subaru and headed south to visit my mother. We started...

Day of Rest

My grandparents, both maternal and paternal, lived in Hodgdon, Aroostook County in Northern Maine where folks farmed 6-days a week and attended the East Hodgdon Bible Church. On Sundays, it was essential chores only, and the women cooked in advance – we ate leftovers...

Big Ed

The first time I met Big Ed, he was standing in the high-ceilinged front room of his home, an old plantation turned Victorian farmhouse in southern Virginia. A bear of a man, he turned my nice-to-meet-you handshake into a warm hug. Keith had told his parents that I...

Play

Last week, I brought home 5 flats of vinca major, a couple of sweet-scented viburnum shrubs, a butterfly bush, an assortment of herbs – mint, oregano, rosemary, thymes and sage – and bags of soil prep. Keith helped with the heavy lifting – two truckloads – and...