by Carole Duff | Jan 2, 2017 | Faith, Writing and Reading |
Yesterday after church, Keith and I sat down to a meal of brats, black-eyed peas (actually a high fiber bean), greens, and cornbread. Though a born-and-raised New Englander, I began to follow this cultural tradition after moving to the South several years ago....
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...
