by Carole Duff | Jul 1, 2019 | Faith, Writing and Reading |
A decade ago: “What would you do if you could take a sabbatical?” the post read on our listserv message board. I lurked while my online colleagues responded predictably: read, study, learn new things, or travel some. At that point in my career, I was a curriculum...
by Carole Duff | Jun 24, 2019 | Faith, Family, Local or Human Interest, Nature, Writing and Reading |
One of our neighbors died last week—he’d been ill for months and in pain. I wrote about buying a gift certificate for his retirement in this post from October 2014. When a customer at the local bistro remarked about my generosity, and I said: “A man in our...
by Carole Duff | Jun 10, 2019 | Dogs & Other Creatures, Faith, Family, Nature, Writing and Reading |
Heathcliff and I took our short walk today, between this morning’s rain and thunderstorms due later this afternoon. As usual, we guarded our steps down the steep, gravel driveway, turned left to traverse the flat turn-around, then picked our way down the mountain...
by Carole Duff | May 6, 2019 | Faith, Nature, Writing and Reading |
A couple of weeks ago, a wood thrush banged into one of our windows. Other birds have done the same and recovered, like last summer’s Scarlet Tanager and more recently, this yellow-bellied sapsucker. Keith and I had not seen wood thrushes here at Vanaprastha, though...
by Carole Duff | Apr 29, 2019 | Faith, Family, Writing and Reading |
One day, spring semester 1981 in my American Humanities class at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, we viewed a slide of Mary Cassatt’s Mother and Child. As a young and somewhat pretentious teacher, I pronounced Cassatt’s last name in French—apologies to my students. Also,...
by Carole Duff | Apr 8, 2019 | Faith, Family, Local or Human Interest, Nature, Writing and Reading |
Last week’s warm temperatures and gentle rain brought a burst of spring to Vanaprastha, and with it the invasion of weeds. The usual culprits at our elevation are dandelion, chickweed, ground ivy, and broadleaf plantain. At first, the weeds look attractive to people...
