by Carole Duff | Nov 10, 2014 | Dogs & Other Creatures |
I’m Heathcliff. Remember me from three Christmases ago? I’m a good dog. My buddy Freya and I walk the mountain road to fetch the mail. That’s her biting my leg. She gets excited. Anticipation. We trot together for a while. Then Freya decides to run down the ravine to...
by Carole Duff | Aug 4, 2014 | Dogs & Other Creatures, Faith, Family, Local or Human Interest, Nature |
I’ve written about Vanaprastha, the third stage of Hindu life when one retreats to the forest in pursuit of solitude. It is also a time to reap the rewards of one’s labor and reconnect with family and friends. Part of a connected harvest involves correction. Proverbs...
by Carole Duff | Jun 16, 2014 | Dogs & Other Creatures, Family, Writing and Reading |
Dogs have played a variety of roles in their long history of domestication. During wars, dogs served along with many other animals. As cited in Susan Orlean’s book Rin Tin Tin, 16 million animals deployed in World War I: camels, cavalry and draft...
by Carole Duff | Jun 2, 2014 | Dogs & Other Creatures, Local or Human Interest, Nature |
I do not have a green thumb. Yet, I have always kept a garden, even if it was just a small plot along the side of the house or plants in pots on terraces in Texas, Baltimore, Alexandria and now here on the deck outside the dining room at Vanaprastha. Fresh herbs and...
by Carole Duff | May 19, 2014 | Dogs & Other Creatures, Faith, Family, Writing and Reading |
A friend of mine, who I have known for twenty-five years, came to Vanaprastha this past weekend, giving rise again to thoughts about abiding friendships. In C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves– family affection, friendship, romance, charity – Lewis states, “…Friendship [is]...
by Carole Duff | Feb 24, 2014 | Dogs & Other Creatures, Family, Local or Human Interest, Nature |
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without,” my Depression-Era father preached. We didn’t do without much because he picked up all kinds of stuff discarded along the way – screws, bolts, bits of rope, even an old fire hose and the broken-off arm of a...
