Two Daughters

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...

Supermoon Night

Last night, I lay in bed, thinking worrying about the letter I received in the mail this weekend. Jury duty. Two months of calling the jury call-in line early every morning to check if my service would be required. Although it was unlikely I’d serve more than a few...

Bits of String

One afternoon about ten years ago when I was visiting my mother at her home in Connecticut, we decided to do a little “spring cleaning” in the kitchen. Mother sat at the table and sipped a cup of decaf while I explored. Memories poured from each cabinet and drawer. I...

Auld Lang Syne

Our guide Graham Bruce coached us before we got off the tour bus in Edinburgh. “At the end of the evening, when the musicians play ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ stand and join hands, then raise them on cue. The second verse, cross your arms and take hands again.” Apparently,...

Caledonia

Two weeks ago Heathcliff and I walked down the mountain road to pick up the mail—our usual routine on days when I work at home and the weather is favorable. I opened the mailbox, and there was a package from my Aunt Margaret. It was the genealogy of my father’s family...