The season has changed and suddenly I find myself anticipating the holidays. I am the first to condemn the world for jumping the gun on every ‘Hallmark’ holiday, to thumb my nose at Halloween swag on store shelves in August and Christmas décor in October, and so this mood is unusual for me. I offer only the paltry excuse that a sense of nostalgia settled … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: It Is Good to Be Home
Maybe he doesn’t speak English, my son observed roughly three weeks ago, just after we invited one smallish hound (think mid-sized two-door sedan) into our family. Get over here, please, stat, I beseeched him, and thankfully he and his BFF complied, driving the five hours from Asheville and arriving on a Sunday night. They spent several comical hours trying to address the dog in various … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: Introducing Danger Dog
Over the course of the long holiday weekend I have fairly devoured this novel by Catherine Newman, whose main character and plot resonate with me in 10,000 kinds of ways. The setting for her story is a favorite summer vacation rental on Cape Cod where the protagonist-narrator, a menopausal mom, has returned for a week (the standard annual stay) with her husband and now-grown children, … Continue reading Reflection: Can We at Least Finish This Thing?
How could anyone be expected to do this without breaking down. The question had echoed inside her head for the last hour, since she first unbuttoned her cuffs, rolled up her sleeves, and gingerly lowered her aching joints to the floor. Now she sat cross-legged in front of an open plastic bin; condensation slowly crept down the geometric panels on a glass of iced tea … Continue reading Afternoon Miniature 6.22.25
During my early elementary school years in Memphis, Tennessee, seems like every child around me showed up to class at one point or another grinning ear to ear, eager to announce the arrival of a new infant sibling in the house. Then on a special afternoon that kid’s mama would step into our cinder-brick public school classroom holding the swaddled infant whilst the older brother … Continue reading Reflection: Siblings
Sitting on the screen porch in my Adirondack chair a couple of weeks ago, wrapped in a fleece blanket, I felt like somebody must’ve on an oceangoing ship in the last century, reclining in one of those graceful wood steam liner chairs. Maybe it wasn’t quite warm enough to be outside on the deck, so the attendant came around with a blanket and some hot … Continue reading Reflection: Good Neighbors and Bad, and Even Famous Ones
“See that tree line on the ridge up there?” I shade my brow with one hand and squint into the late afternoon sunlight to look, our last afternoon in daylight saving time. Tomorrow morning we’ll wake to an earlier sunrise and a shorter day. “Yep.” “Now look to the right. See where the trees are missing?” Against the fiery orange western sky, the ridgeline hovers … Continue reading Reflection: O, Asheville
It is five of five in the morning and I am hanging my head over the sofa from behind it, about to awaken a sleeping chef until I realize he is wide awake. I am driving him to an early appointment at the doctor’s office in an hour for a little thing, so it is time to get moving. He is not fine, he tells … Continue reading Reflection: The Current State of Things
A certain ‘smart speaker’ makes quick book purchases a tad too easy, doesn’t she? Open email, flip through the Times book review, ask her to buy it now, and Bam! an exciting new read (or a pile of ‘em) shows up on your doorstep in a day or two. To make matters worse, I happen to be a hardcover snob and relent to a paperback … Continue reading Reflection: Exploring the Deep South (Slowly) With Paul Theroux
Memories that pop up in social feeds can be cruel, but as often they’re so beautiful. Once in a while, images surface as reminders Chef David and I somehow found time to do things together, a lot of things, in the chapter that was life in Vermont. But leisure time seems so elusive somehow in this chapter. We’ve been in our new house for a … Continue reading Reflection: Piloting Through Chapter and Verse
Carolina Thinklings 