The Memory Garden

If I’m not up by 7 in the morning, the bed shakes and a paw rakes my arm. The clock in Peaches’ stomach has gone off, and she is keen to alert me to that fact. If I wake earlier and stretch, or make any sound at all, she’s on me with the paw, and … More The Memory Garden

A Completion

September is a beautiful month, but there is something dolorous in the fading of flowers and the shortening of days that reminds us that summer does not last forever. There is another empty chair at our table now. We lost Tracey’s brother in September, my friend, Michael Betz, who passed away peacefully at home, leaving … More A Completion

It’s About Time

Every year about this time, leaves gather and get relocated; then they regroup and conspire to come back with others, only to be relocated again. The roofs of our house and barn are inspected and repaired as needed. Garden hoses are coiled and stored away. Tomato plants are pulled up and replaced by broccoli, lettuce, … More It’s About Time

Just a Chicken

Four years ago when there were no eggs to be found in the grocery stores, an impossibly small box containing an unlikely number of baby chicks arrived at our house. One poor traveler did not survive the trip, but the rest of the herd we divided into two camps housed in large pet carriers lined … More Just a Chicken