A recent issue of Harper’s Magazine had an essay about the inability of most people to feel content. To feel they have enough. Ever. No matter what it is — money, fame, houses or...

We’re in the process of downsizing. I’ve spent the last two months going through closets, drawers and long forgotten boxes.. Sort, donate, sell, sort, donate, sell, repeat. It’s amazing how stuff has a way...

My neighbor two houses up the road is from Ukraine. That’s not unusual. The town where I live has 50,000 eastern European immigrants, most of them from Ukraine. I have wanted to talk to...

A few weeks ago I saw a man leaning over our fence and looking back and forth. It took me a minute to figure out who he was. The house belongs to one of...

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Though I normally dislike what I call “fabricated” holidays, I find myself grateful for the love and good feelings that still prevail in the world, despite threats of war and...

Rarely a generation passes without at least one person in our family being afflicted with what I call the “Uncle Walter Gene”, which compels a person to take unusual care for the welfare of...

I just read a short piece in the latest print issue of Harper’s magazine, a list of accidental damage done to works of art in museums. One incident involved a visitor tripping on a...

A couple of years ago I spent a week at a writing workshop. There were twelve people in my group, and at least ten other groups just as large there. It wasn’t cheap, yet...

My hearing sucks. There. I’ve said it. For years I’ve been telling my husband he would benefit from hearing aids but it wasn’t until last year, when my son’s family was visiting, I discovered...

A couple of years ago when I was out walking, I’d often pass a man going in the other direction. The first time I ran into him, I think I just said something generic...