Year after year, autumn after autumn, the same trees here are photographed, from every angle, in every light. I have pictures of them when I could touch their tops. It reminds me of parents who take pictures of their children from the moment they are born, through every stage, on every occasion. The albums are [...]
Such a dear letter in response to my column about being temporarily “out of order” and finally back on schedule feeling much better than before. The handwriting was exquisite. The name was not familiar, as the writer was from Kent, and I’ll not use her name since I don’t have her permission. But she certainly [...]
From the sixth floor of St. Elizabeth Medical Center, watching an electrical storm split the night sky was akin to a fantasy, perhaps dream. The city lights could have been anywhere in the world, the height — perhaps the peak — of a mountain. But what in the flaming blazes was I doing there? Why [...]
Just at twilight, the doe and her fawn tiptoe up the back fence line, their ears alert to any move I might make as I watch from the back barn door. I’d left Winnie in the house and was glad I had, or she would have ruined the pastoral picture. This must have been a [...]
Surely, every American over 18 and possibly a few younger — I have no idea how American history is taught these days — has heard of the Battle of the Little Bighorn June 25, 1876, and of the Seventh Cavalry’s golden-haired leader, Gen. George Armstrong Custer. The massacre of Custer’s forces and their horses and [...]
“Him and me are going to visit…” Me and my friends just pop in the car…” No one is faster than us…” Do you detect something wrong in these honest-to-gosh quotes? The first was said by a young lady who graduated from Youngstown State University in December, got her teaching degree and is employed as [...]
Usually the big calendar hanging on the kitchen door is filled with all kinds of squiggles and notes about birthdays and birds and reminders of anniversaries — the reality days of life — but so far July’s page is comparatively empty. I should write that, as of the 14th, the four baby barn swallows which [...]
How could it possibly be the middle of July when it was spring just a moment ago and June was almost non-existent? Somehow, the first day of summer and the longest day of the year didn’t register. Maybe because the rain was pouring down — and crossways — or because the furnace had to run [...]
Fireflies and foxfire . . . four-leaf clovers and bare feet . . water striders and pollywogs . . . baby rabbits and big black and yellow spiders centering their webs . . . crayfish in the creek scuttling backward to hide beneath a rock . . . Fortunate the child — as was I [...]
Now the foaming white froth of the perfumed locust blossoms has been spent and honeysuckle has taken over the scent waves. The erratic spring weather with abundant rain — understatement! — has some of us feeling as though we are living in a tropical rain forest. In my pasture, buttercups and grasses are not quite [...]
