April 04, 2014 / Nourishment at the Museum
So the other day, now that it has been a whole month since I had open-heart surgery, and feeling a little frisky (though cautious), I decided to spend an afternoon at one of my very most favorite places, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. I got thinking about it, though. In the morning, over… Read More
March 21, 2014 / Going By Train
When I was a kid, I used to listen to special radio programs on Saturday mornings. None was more gripping than “Grand Central Station”. It was, I suppose, a sort of anthology of stories about New York City. I don’t remember any of them. But what I do remember, now about 65… Read More
March 18, 2014 / Open-Heart Surgery: Traveling Through the Valley of the Shadow
So just take everything off, and the gown opens in the back. You can put your clothes in this plastic bag. Here, honey, I want you to keep my wedding rings till I come home. No, just take the bag of clothes home with you. You can bring it back when I get discharged. Oh, that’s a really… Read More
February 13, 2014 / Christmas Tree Journey
A few days before Christmas we went to our favorite farm market and chose our Christmas tree. I like to get one which still has a few reminders, entangled in its branches, of the place where it grew—perhaps a few dry grass strands, or something like that. Once, there was a bird’s… Read More
January 31, 2014 / Little Stories of Seed Travel
Say you’re a plant. You’ve germinated, grown, made your flowers, got them pollinated—and now your pollinated ovaries have ripened into seeds. Your final task this year is to send the seeds off somehow so they can start their own lives (kind of like being a parent). You want to… Read More
January 29, 2014 / Little Stories of Animal Travel
The other day, walking to the subway and well-bundled up against the piercing cold, I stopped to watch a small dog and his person, both of whom were also well-bundled up. He was on a long, retractable leash and his person was letting him explore every crevice of a stone wall. At the time I was… Read More
January 24, 2014 / The Ice Bar
The what? Ice bar? You want to go see the ice bar? What is an ice bar? These questions from my husband. Wait—you mean this is like those ice hotels I have heard of, where your room is made of ice—but this is a bar made of ice? Well, where is it—upcountry somewhere really cold,… Read More
January 17, 2014 / Travail
Curious about the derivation of the word “travel”, I looked it up in my American Heritage Dictionary, the one with the big appendix of roots. It comes from the Middle English word travailen, which meant to toil, just as travail does today: strenuous mental or physical exertion,… Read More
January 13, 2014 / Winter Walking Part 2: Some Animals
My former workplace, a small Audubon sanctuary, is home to many creatures, some of whom are seldom seen except through their tracks and sign. Winter is a great time to search for and find these animal messages, and I went to look for them a couple of days ago. The icy trails, powdered as they… Read More
January 12, 2014 / Winter Walking Part 1: Some Plants
I thought to treat myself to a winter walk in the small Audubon sanctuary where I used to work. Even though it’s small, the sanctuary has several kinds of habitats: a pond, a couple of meadows, some woods. And in the spring, there’s a vernal pool, but that is a subject for a few… Read More