This is a story about learning something new by practicing an old tradition. The story starts with applesauce. Making applesauce was an annual summer tradition for my late mother, and her mother. There may have been yet another generation back there simmering and stirring in the kitchen on humid Southern summer days before air conditioning, […]
When it comes to domestic science–or arts, depending on how you like to regard these matters of home–my greatest achievement might be the reasonable management of expectations. If you work a challenging career while managing your home on your own, hang out with your family and friends, and stop even occasionally to breathe and enjoy […]
Warm thanks to my friend, fellow Kentucky native and author Georgia Green Stamper, for sharing this grandmother’s tale of deja vu and antics that repeat across generations. Last week, I tagged along with my youngest daughter, Georgeann, to Cincinnati. Her young children, Annelise and Hudson, made the jaunt from Lexington, Kentucky, with us. At five […]
For those targeted in the demographic as “mature” readers, there is a wealth of material everywhere you look these days replete with advice about disposing of your belongings, especially older items. Perusing this advice is not recommended on a dark and dreary day. Do the closet purging now, so your children don’t have to later, […]
When your birthdays push you past the half-century mark and beyond, there’s something the great P. G. Wodehouse would have called a stone-dead cert: You have a long list of things that mark the increasing acceleration of time. Candles on the cake, growth in the garden, waking up and finding it is Easter, when Christmas […]
Farewell 2023, and good riddance. In our generation, it is hard to recall a more heartbreaking, crisis-ridden 12 months. The year-in-review news summaries are enough to turn the toughest stomach. Wars, weather crises, political turmoil, unrelenting gun violence—it is enough to bow the most fervently faithful head. As we all search the horizon for bright […]
The sun has no voice, surely, so I must have imagined that call. It summoned me outside as it continued its ascent in the bright, early hours of the morning after Thanksgiving. The striated rosy and berry pinks of dawn over the hill behind had just faded, giving way to near-blinding illumination from a cloudless […]
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’m re-sharing a tribute to my beloved late sister, who left us 10 years ago this summer after a five-year battle against the disease. Please remember the millions of women who still need our help as the battle goes on. Results and options have improved greatly in recent […]
A Labor Day weekend survey of the garden is a such a dreary exercise. The petunias in the window box, big favorites of the hummingbirds and bees this summer, droop sadly in apparent surrender to the late-summer weather scourge. Their dry, twiggy stems are grumpily sprouting junior versions of their glorious purple trumpets from early […]
It was one of those golden moments, the kind that linger in memory, perhaps more powerful because it was utterly unexpected. It began with one of those instincts you can’t suppress, because it is rooted deep in your bone marrow. We were gathered around the dinner table, with pizza and birthday balloons and cupcakes waiting […]