Goodnight, Irene

She came and she went. We spent several days with ear cocked to the weather reports, doing this and that to prepare for assault on our sovereign territory. I excavated white river stones where they had become embedded in dirt washed down from above, added a wide and...

No Silence about the Lambs

This year we again bought a lamb at the Harford County Fair 4-H auction. Our freezer has been lambless for some months but the decision to bid was very last-minute. A call about a week after the event let us know the amount owed, that our lamb had been delivered to...

Detroit II: Food and Fine Art

Lynn is a natural caregiver and that means she nourishes, certainly the spirit and absolutely the body. She comes by it naturally. Her late father, Joe the Plumber, was a marvelous cook; Hungarian-kitchen lore plus the resources of Cleveland’s West Side Market meant...

Detroit I: The Gap-Toothed Smile

So many bad things are said about Detroit. Television programs show a city that appears to be abandoned and newspaper headlines focus on criminal proceedings against elected officials and a devastated economy. What I found was a place of broad straight avenues...