At nine months old, my friend Sara Bhatia’s son Zander was sampling a variety of curries and other exotic dishes. My nine-month-old daughter, Ruth, on the other hand, was sampling the foods Gerber put in a jar. Fast forward a few…
There’s a place just beyond where the Grickle-grass grows, in a far back corner of the yard: the Bamboo Forest. Many long years ago, when people long since dead were alive, grandmother planted bamboo because she thought it was pretty. It grew,…
The best novels tend to acknowledge and explore how complicated life can be. Love that, appreciate that! But sometimes you’re in the mood for something gentler. For a beautifully simple vision of the good life and how to live it, light a…
I ran into Monica McDougall at a party recently. “How are you? How are the kids?” I asked, expecting an enthusiastic response. “Normal,” she replied, with her lovely wry smile, a smile that conveyed the vagaries, hassles, worries, and aggravations of family…
Finally, a ray of sunshine! Pepper and I took advantage. She bounded around the yard securing the border and I did my usual slow circuit. To my dismay, I found the daffodils already 3 and 4 inches high, seemingly overnight….
You bring the coffee, I’ll bring the classic: today’s post is the first in an occasional series featuring vintage reads. Nichole Huseby begins the conversation with her lovely piece on The Optimist’s Daughter, by Eudora Welty, winner of the Pulitzer Prize…
Another damp late afternoon found Pepper and me puttering around the yard. As daylight faded, a red-tailed hawk soared overhead then landed in a large oak tree. I spotted another red-tailed hawk perched in the same tree, both of them somber…
I ran errands in the rain today, wishing I were home and worlds away. Like Carl Sandburg said… “Horses and Men in Rain” Let us sit by a hissing steam radiator a winter’s day, gray wind pattering frozen raindrops on the window,…
I know I’m late to the party on top picks of 2016. I got distracted by a disruption in the Force. Taking inspiration from three wishes, three pointers (by the Tarheels), and meat and three’s, here are the three novels I…