Shadows

“When my daughter was a teenager and going through a particularly difficult time, I asked her to take a walk one evening,” my Uncle George told me during our visit last summer. “I said to her, ‘Do you know what I don’t like in you? [Pause] It’s what I see in myself.’”...

Threes

“Trouble always comes in threes,” Mother warned us when we were growing up. In the past couple of weeks, Keith and I have had our three. First, the mailbox post snapped. We think it had a little help. Then the washing machine refused to drain or do anything: lights...

Quilting

Snow fell on Vanaprastha yesterday, covering the greenhouse windows in the dining room. Across the region, schools closed and many activities cancelled including last night’s writing group in Charlottesville and this morning’s Bible Study in Nellysford. Weather...

On Marriage

This morning, Keith gets up first. He lets Heathcliff out for his ‘hurry up’ then Freya. From the comfort of bed, I hear her barking in the woods beyond the mountain road turn-around. I smell the coffee, which Keith sets up to brew by 5 every morning – we’re early...

The Taming of the Shrew

Watching live theater offers opportunities to view characters caught in webs of life experience. Enjoyment depends on both intimacy and distance. We can engage with the characters intimately – loving, hating, fearing or pitying – yet choose to keep them...