It’s always something. Today, I’m angry with the air. I resent that it refuses to flow freely into my mother’s lungs, bathing them with replenishment and energy. Today, I’m angry with the designers of handicap access ramps, who, in their interest in minimizing pitch, create a distance demand that requires extraordinary effort on Mom’s […]
The Joy of Catching a Ride
“There’s a car for sale on the way down to school,” Ula reports one afternoon as she walks in the door, “I think we could afford it.” She started taking classes down at SUNY Cobleskill last year, and she’s been driving down there a couple days each week through the summer to take a riding […]
Replenishing My Nice Juice
“HI!” Rowan*, my niece, is two. This is one of her two favorite words. She will be in the middle of dancing about the living room floor, then she’ll suddenly lock eyes with me, stop abruptly, rush over, gaze at me deeply, and say it: “HI!” She’s just made that word completely delicious for me. […]
Friend Medicine
“We are all in the gutter. But some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde What was I supposed to say? It was ten years and one month ago. Lisa, a fellow homeschooler, had moved here with her daughter Sarah the summer before. We had slowly become friends when […]
Every Day
Turned 50 on Monday. Woke up to this beside my bed, my gift from Bob: Every day, we sit with the stream. As the spark of Venus fades into the wakening embers of dawn over the field, we turn to the path that takes us into the woods, threading through the trees, crossing rows of […]
Thanks Matters
Like so many traditional holidays, Thanksgiving has a dark origin story — Colonialism. Slavery. Epidemics. These are all important issues to consider as we work to build a socially just, kind world. Gratitude is equally important. I reflect on both sides of the holiday this week. But I cannot let the dark history over-shadow […]
Labor(ing) Day
Don’t know many folks who farm or live close to the bone who don’t find the notion of Labor Day profoundly ironic. Pigs still gotta eat. Chickens still gotta eat. Sheep still need to move to fresh pasture. And, of course, there are all the farm-direct sales. There are a lot of parties and guests […]
Better Than
Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. Joanne Harris’ Broken Light. Both books are on my mind non-stop. They are masterful: Fabulous character arcs, great story lines, gorgeous writing. Both examine major social issues of our time…And both do it while pulling me into stories so enthralling, I lose hours of sleep each night, reading to the […]
Swiping Right
“If we both joined Tinder, do you think we’d match with each other?” “No.” “Hey! You answered too fast. And what do you mean by that?” I swat Bob on the butt. We’re watching a Tinder drama play out in real-time while cooking dinner. Saoirse is dressed and ready to leave on a date. I’m […]
On Retreat
As some of you are aware, I’ve been working on a novel for like…..oh….. a decade now. I’ve done a couple drafts of it. The current version, however, is over 600 pages, and my agent won’t look at it until I manage to delete 200 pages and find a way to make the story hold […]
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