In the years since my mother’s death, I’ve often felt regret that my mother’s last hours with me weren’t more meaningful for her, and for me. Read more.
Older and Older
My Little Old Lady Christmas Tree — Showing It Who’s Boss
It’s time to buy myself another little old lady Christmas tree, haul it into the house and stand it on the coffee table — creaky knees and knuckles, notwithstanding. Read more.
Blood and Guts in My Backyard. Or, Nature Tidies Up
Blood and guts in my backyard: A half-eaten deer lay sprawled under my cypress tree. Ravens croaked the news from the tree above. Read more.
What’s Rhetoric? Let My Two-Year-Old Enlighten You
My daughter Christina discovered the art of rhetoric when she was being weaned from baby bottle to plastic cup. She’d say, “I want milk and I don’t want it in a cup” — an elegant illocutionary statement that usually got her what she wanted, her bottle.