“The chamber pot marks the corner of your land.” In 1979, every farmer in West Fulton over the age of 60 knew about the distinct marker that defined the boundary of our property. I’ve no idea how long that rusty pot hung from a branch, or who hung it there, but it seemed a more […]
My Indian Virtual Assistant
“I need an Indian virtual assistant.” “Not American?” Bob has just returned from cleaning the vacation rental after our guests checked out. He cracks a beer and flops down on the glider beside me, waiting to see where I’m going with this. “We’re supposed to seek a more favorable exchange rate.” Two summers ago […]
Mellow.
“I gotta go, ‘cuz Mellow’s getting anxious.” Mellow, a charcoal Bichon Frise, pulls at the end of his leash and attempts to reach Bob and me with his forepaws as we walk up a strip of crumbled sidewalk in the city of Schenectady’s Stockade district. His owner, talking to another fellow on a stoop, […]
The Fifteens
“Forget acting. I’m going to be an eco-saboteur.” She turns fifteen this month. These are the first words out of her mouth when Grammie brings her back to the cafe from wilderness survival summer camp. I think I’m holding my own at the espresso bar in her absense, but she gives me a light hip […]
What would Henry David say?
“For my greatest skill has been to want but little.” When I read this line in Walden, I repeated it out loud. I wrote it down. I emblazoned it across my brain, forged it into my heart, considered tattooing it across my chest. I was a mother of two by then, but they were […]
Selfish Inner Goddess
“I don’t know how to parent you!” These words shock me as they shoot from my mouth on this steamy Fourth of July morning beside the edge of Mallet pond. Ula’s back is to me, facing the water. She’s been with her friends all week. She’s been with friends all summer. But they are not […]
Smoothies & Hormones
“Kids! We gotta be in the car in 15 minutes! Let’s MOVE!” “But Mom!” Ula lobs her words from her pillow, over the stair railing and down into the kitchen where they land, smoking, at my feet. “You have to make our smoothies!” Imperitives don’t sit well with me today. This is an invitation to […]
Bullfrogs and Graveyards
Jug-a-rum, jug-a-rum, jug-a-rum. I don’t think much of the Westchesters who own the vacation house next door. But I think a lot about their pond. My bedroom windows are up against the state forest, and as I fall to sleep at night, they channel in the songs of the thrushes. The clerestories above me […]
Please.
“There are several words for thank you, there is no word for please.” I am reading Braiding Sweetgrass*, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, is talking about table manners in her native tongue. “Food was meant to be shared,” she explains. “No added politeness needed; it was simply a cultural given […]
Lucky Dog
It’s nearly 11 o’clock at night. Bob and I pay for our food, push aside our plates and make our way to the exit of Gene’s, a brightly lit restaurant on the outskirts of Moncton, New Brunswick. We are the only customers there at present. A man watches us intently from behind the counter. I […]
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