The Times of Your Life

Good morning, yesterday You wake up and time has slipped away…   After several days of rain, Keith and I woke this morning to sunshine and spring-green stretching across the Rockfish Valley. Through our open window, I heard bird calls and echoes from dogs...

The Cherry Tree—a Mystery Tale

Once upon a time, in a far-away land, there lived a man and his wife. They lived together in a city townhouse large enough for a family. In the small, fenced-in backyard covered by a deck grew a cherry tree. Every April, the tree produced a profusion of beautiful,...

Ch-ch-changes

“Cut it,” I said to my hairdresser last Wednesday, “I’m done.” I pulled at my tresses, which flew this way and that. “I can’t stand my hair, blowing around and falling into my eyes.” “All right,” my hairdresser said with undisguised zeal. She grabbed a styling razor....

Taming the shrew

Springtime brings flowers and critters back to Vanaprastha. Keith and I are seeing creeping phlox, bluebells and fothergilla, skinks, tiger swallowtails and hummingbirds. But no shrews except Katherina, the Shrew in Shakespeare’s so-named play, which Keith and I saw...

A little Kumbaya

In last week’s post, I wrote, “We are all in this together.” Sunday. Trying to get home, to work, to somewhere other than where we are, Grand Rapids. Then Monday. No one sang Kumbaya. I stood in line at the airline check-in counter for an hour, checked my bag, cleared...