Happy anniversaries

This past weekend marked two anniversaries. Cherisse’s birthday on February 14; and the day my father died of cancer, February 16. Twenty-three years have now passed since then, and yet I remember that final night with perfect clarity. My mother, sister and I had watched while he fought for days, hanging on longer than the...

Of love and tequila

Not only has 2014 begun, we are well into its second month. Storm after storm have left mounds of snow in the Northeast. Our wonderful neighbor Tom rescued Cherisse last week by pulling her car out of the snow (and then plowing the driveway). Icy snowbanks (now covered with layers of grime) line New York...

Together we stand

“World as it is, /what’s strong and separate falters. All I do/at piling stone on stone apart from you/is roofless around nothing. Till we kiss/I am no more than upright and unset.”—from “Most Like an Arch This Marriage” by John Ciardi The Rhode Island Senate is debating marriage equality, and this week the Supreme Court...

Christmas past

On Christmas Eve, my father would sit on the couch in his pajamas and searsucker robe, with my sister and me on either side of him, and begin The Night Before Christmas. His reading glasses went halfway down his nose, so he could both read the words and look us in the eye as he spun...

Food and friends

Despite the seemingly endless work staying on top of the pests in the garden (or perhaps trailing closely behind them would be more accurate), and attempting to keep nature from swallowing us with its persistent growth, we have passed some pleasant and restful days with family and friends. One Saturday we spent almost an entire...

On Easter morn

I am a sucker for great holiday packaging: black and orange dishtowels embroidered with jack-o-lanterns; beeswax candles in the shape of Christmas trees; bunny candle holders in soft pastel colors. So what if you only use them once a year? My family is not religious, and so our celebration of Easter is much like that...

No April fool

Had my father lived past age 58, he would be 80 today. That seems very old to me because I haven't watched him age---the one benefit of dying young is that he remains forever a younger man. I followed in my father's field of magazine marketing. He taught me skills that he knew innately, and...

The uninvited guests

Today was an unexpected day. We’d planned to go to a Saturday morning Pilates class, and then the Providence farmer’s market. However, a late start caused us to switch gears, and instead, we went to the Mt. Hope farmer’s market in Bristol with the dogs; Mt. Hope Farm has a lovely walk we’d been wanting...

The Land of Make Believe

Eavesdropping might not be polite, but who could resist listening to children as they make up a game? My cousin and his family came and stayed over the night after Christmas, and we had a wonderful time with all of them. The oldest, now seven, taught us how to play dominoes. When the adults were...

Christmas Eve

We’re at the final countdown. This morning Cherisse and I reviewed our present selections (although really it’s too late; we are not Christmas eve shoppers…the thought of entering stores crammed with frantic people is the antithesis of holiday spirit). Still, we assess our choices---knowing full well that our family delights in any gift chosen with...