Snowdrops! A dandelion! A red-winged blackbird! A flicker at the suet! A purple crocus! Ten or more whistling swans — there is a new name for them but I like the old one better, crooning their way through leaden skies on leap day. A pair of geese grazing in the pasture in what looks like [...]

At last! While we were sleeping and even the stars shivered, he finally came, bringing with him his brushes to paint an icy forest on the window. Who? Jack Frost, of course. The artist has been waiting for the disgusting (to him) warm days and nights to end so he can get to work. Every [...]

Have you listened lately to your house, especially if it is an old house? Over the years you’ve learned to identify its creaks and cracks, its rattles and bangs, without becoming alarmed. You also know its smells, not just from the kitchen, and if a skunk is passing through.

Now is the time to pop corn, drink hot cocoa (or beverage of your choice), play favorite music, read a good book — and fall asleep — at least that’s what happens here.

Awaiting my morning wake-up call — Toby knows exactly when 8 a.m. comes — my mind rambles, and on this morning I reflect on what my imagination can create. (What would we do without a good imagination? It can make or break your day.)

Last December I saved a column from the Boston Globe titled “Merry Retro Christmas” and saved it because I thought it said everything about nostalgia and memories.

This is the first Thanksgiving in many years that I won’t be cooking dinner, with all the trimmings. I’ve said all along I’d do Easter and Thanksgiving as long as I could and I’ve finally had to concede.

With the holidays lurking just around the corner — who needs to be reminded? All the stores, commercials, etc. have been reminding us since the Fourth of July.

Mother Nature has already dismantled her art gallery and set the stage for her annual striptease. The performance is usually accompanied by wind music, sometimes as in the rattle of dry leaves — veils? — flung wantonly into the sky, sometimes without fanfare when raindrops keep the dancers grounded. Some veils lie in mosaic skirts [...]

This is anniversary month. It will not be celebrated or even observed. Don’t anyone dare to wish me happy anniversary! It was one year ago on Oct. 3 that a tumble — more like falling off a cliff — from my high bed in the middle of the night, changed the course of what is [...]