Lizzy Traband (the One-Handed Horse Rider) Teaches Me Her Method
I’m driving way out into the country to a farm. It’s a nice afternoon to see some horses, and in Central Pennsylvania, you don’t have to go far. You leave a complex life and find quiet beauty out here. And this isn’t just any farm. Lizzy Traband, a young girl born with one […]
Living Room Before and After (My Attempt at Decorating)
It’s never a good time to paint your living room. But we decide to refresh the living room–give it a little lift (my neighbor’s words)–before the school year starts. For a year, I’ve been thinking: blue, blue, blue. Before: And after: I love it! You take a risk with painting a room. You […]
Mothers Who Get in the Way
I’m lounging by the neighborhood pool, and I notice a group of teenage boys wildly attacking one another, throwing one another into the water, and performing ever-increasing feats of manliness for all to see. I’m worried someone will get hurt, especially the young children trying to swim. One mother gets up from her seat and […]
A Dark, Sweet Pleasure
As Seamus Heaney wrote in his poem, “Blackberry Picking,” the red berries finally “inked up and that hunger / sent us out” to harvest. It’s all poetry in my yard today: Ripe Blackberries The blackberries bring a joy I can’t name. I don’t need anything else but those warm berries in my hand. They deliver […]
The Ugliest Mushroom
I’m back in the woods for the first time all summer. As the sun sets, the children gather burrs to make the roof of a fairy house, and my neighbor and I discuss the invention of Velcro arising out of viewing these burrs under magnification. The burrs hook and cling to anything near them. […]
Doing What You Love
Today I remember a conversation I had with my husband years ago. We were talking about careers and our future. We asked this question: “What makes you feel most alive and most like yourself?” His answer matched exactly with what he was already doing with his life. Mine didn’t, but I was getting there. I […]
Seaweed and My Back-to-School Plan
I’m learning that children eat anything if you wrap it in seaweed. I make a pot of rice and then mix in some rice vinegar. I spread the sticky rice over the seaweed, and then I arrange some cream cheese, scrambled eggs, and spinach on top. I roll it up. I slice and serve it. […]
Positioned to Dance
The grove of trees behind my home stands completely still this morning. Except for one little tree. That tree’s bright green leaves shimmy and shake as if tickled by unseen fingers. Her branches lift and fall, and the whole tree turns and glows in the new sun. She’s animated–breathing–and dancing to the wind. The other […]
Giving Your Full Attention
This afternoon, a friend tells me about a seminar she attended. She describes the teacher as someone who “gave his full attention to each person.” It seemed incredible–his focus, his intensity–that he could give to a person asking him a question. Remarkable in his love and concern, this teacher left the kind of impression my […]
A Message from a Pandora Sphinx Moth
I arrive into my driveway, and an enormous Pandora Sphinx Moth greets me. The moth–as big as my own hand–sits with authority as if sent to deliver a message. We think, at first, a leaf attached itself to our door. But then we see clearly. Watch carefully. Things are not what they seem. Pandora Sphinx […]