With the rest of the world, I have watched the videos and news accounts of tragedy in Japan.  As if the earthquake and tsunami weren’t enough, the nuclear reactor explosions and subsequent meltdown are creating an industrialized disaster of unprecedented proportions. (more…)

I just returned from the Bahamas with my daughter, Victoria.  This was my third and final ‘Teen Trip’, 3 days and nights that I’ve taken with each of my children.  Of all the pleasures of the cruise — staring out to sea, being entertained by comedians, watching my daughter soak up the sun — what stands out the most was our snorkeling excursion. (more…)

That white fluffy powder – it just keeps coming down in New England.  We’ve had four school snow days in four weeks.  I gaze at the accumulating inches outside my window . . . .  and I think about how this frozen water, a neutral substance, takes on meaning to so many people.  (more…)

I gaze out my window and I see only snow . . . a wall of winter white . . . and the world shut down.  Schools and airports are closed.  Doctors and dentists have nothing but cancellations.  Retailers hibernate.

And once the storm has passed, we are launched into work:  snow blowing, shoveling, salting, and plowing.  I’m reminded that snow days, like grief, require a persistent energy. (more…)

They flew overhead all day long, the sun glinting off their wings.  We must have been right on their flight path since they came repeatedly, even into the night.  “Honk” “Honk” “Honk!” (more…)