Making Home

“Housekeeping is home’s daily chores of faith, hope, and love. It doesn’t hold out for what might never be. Instead, it wrings good from what is.”  -Jen Pollock Michel   I reach for a book, wipe dust off the top, pile it on the previous one, and reach for...

Making Lists

This morning, the sun out competed the clouds and burned off pockets of fog. A cool breeze rustled the lush vegetation surrounding our house. I checked our rain gauge. Three inches. Good day to pull weeds, I thought, scrub floors, wash the dogs, do laundry, and walk...

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,...

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...