by Carole Duff | May 23, 2022 | Family |
The Second Stage of Life It’s 1994, and I am in the thick of the second stage of life, a householder earning a living and raising children. Though I make mistakes as a parent, I make sure my children have their basic needs: security and survival, esteem and affection....
by Carole Duff | May 9, 2022 | Faith, Family, Local or Human Interest, Nature |
Both sustenance and fear on Friday night Thunder and lightning accompanied the rain, beating against the windows here at Vanaprastha. I’d prayed for rain to sustain the newly-sprouted and newly-planted vegetation. Prayer answered? Though quite deaf in her old...
by Carole Duff | May 2, 2022 | Faith, Family |
Fast, as an adjective I am a fast horse, galloping across the field in front of our house, or a bear, loping through woods, or a bird, leaping off the living room sofa into my father’s arms. I want to fly, too, and often do, climbing the highest trees and swaying...
by Carole Duff | Apr 25, 2022 | Faith, Family |
“I need to stay in touch with my friends,” my student said tearfully. Maggie [name changed] was a senior in the parochial high school where I taught, a good student, and one of our top STARs—Student Technology Advisers—who assisted at the Help Desk and...
by Carole Duff | Apr 11, 2022 | Dogs & Other Creatures, Family |
Curly, Cato, and Slick – photographed by “Shirley” “I’m writing about the pandemic and would like your opinion,” I said to my neighbor Shirley [name changed] as we walked. We had three dogs on leash—mine and two from another neighbor who is unable to...
by Carole Duff | Apr 4, 2022 | Faith, Family, Writing and Reading |
Coffee with mother Every afternoon, after school, Mother makes herself a cup of decaf coffee laced with milk, and my sisters and I pour ourselves Cokes. Then we sit around the dining room table while Mother listens to our woes. I tell her about my...