Many of the things we hang onto have little or no intrinsic value, or at least no value that we are aware of.  So why do we hang onto them at all.  Sometimes we love the look and feel of something in our hands, and we wonder if it really could have some worth beyond our own appreciation.  That’s the...

There are all sorts of reasons that we collect and save stuff during our lifetimes.  Actress Jean Smart loves old things because of the stories they tell.   She says, “I’ve been fascinated by where it’s been, who’s owned it before and what their lives were like.”  It is for that same reason that I c...

Last Saturday was our Epworth community’s Annual Cottagers Meeting.  As things got started, I had the shock of my life:  Mallory Carr, the President of the Board of Trustees announced that I had been selected as Epworth’s Good Citizen for 2022.  I couldn’t have been more surprised.  Over the years I...

Last week I sprained my ankle…again.  This has happened to me before.  I am so prone to rolling my ankles that I carry Air Cast ankle supports with me and wear them on both legs when I play tennis.

When you’re gimpy you start to notice other people with special protective boots.  One of my friends ...

During several summers when our children were young, I’d invite a dear friend with little ones the same ages to join us for a few days.  One summer with our kids tucked up in their beds my friend and I took our beach chairs out in front of the cottage to watch the moon set.  Sunset is always a big e...

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
      the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
     Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
     have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
     a light has dawned.”        Isaiah 9:1-2 

When Jesus heard that John the B...

It was bound to happen.  After two and a half years of avoiding Covid like the plague (literally), family members in our household started coming down with symptoms last week.  This necessitated all exposed parties to go into quarantine.  As one who had seemingly had the least exposure and no appare...

It was supposed to be a picnic, a reunion of forty-some family members in a summer cottage community to which my extended family has come for our entire lives.  There would be a cook-out in a park with a playground and a splashpad, and there would be a family photo to memorialize the occasion.  But ...

Because Campbell had told me that he was really interested in the Mississippi River, we did not head directly to Chicago after our riverboat ride.  We took a more meandering path north to Moline, IL.  I had envisioned maybe following the path of “Old Man River” through little towns, but by that time...

I love to pair my travels with literary experiences.  When I took our son Court across the country in 1994, we stopped at several Little House sites. When in New York City I have taken my children to some of the sites in “From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” and “A Cricket in Times ...