July 8th, 2009 | Friends, General, Women
A few days ago I spent the better part of an afternoon at a restaurant with Usha and Gayle. Usha and Gayle live in the same town and have long been friends. I met them separately, drawn by the forces that bring mothers together. While our children created the...
July 4th, 2009 | General, Holidays, Time Passes
In years long, long past, we often celebrated the Fourth of July at the family compound in New Hampshire. Ma’s father’s family had been visiting Squam Lake since the 19th century; first they boarded at local farm houses and later rented a cottage at...
June 25th, 2009 | Gardens and Gardening, General, the world and Mother Nature
Last night, about ten o’clock, I opened the front door and invited the cat inside for the night. The weak glow of the houselights quailed in the glare of the nearby streetlamp; there seemed little to draw me outside. Theo (Theodora Maud, really, named in part...
June 13th, 2009 | Gardens and Gardening, Genealogy, General
Is there a time-release bit of gardener’s DNA in the human genome that wakes up when one reaches “a certain age”? As a child and under duress from my mother I planted zinnia seeds. I didn’t particularly care for the flowers–I think Ma had...
June 12th, 2009 | General, the world and Mother Nature
Surely, it’s just the season; surely I have too much time on my hands with no classes to teach, no papers to grade, exams to correct. Nonetheless I seem fixated on the critters who share this suburban development with us. Each night, when I am ready for bed, I...
