If you know me personally, you know that I can be close with a dollar. But every so often the urge hits me to go shopping. Since Lily and 9 arrived I am more willing to honor the impulse. Call it peer pressure.   You make it sound like I spend my money...

If your mailbox is like mine it is starting to fill up with requests for charitable contributions. ‘Tis the season for year-end fundraising, to the tune of tax deductible giving for donors.   Huh?   Nonprofit organizations, everything from homeless shelters...

Widows. There are 11.8 million in the U. S., with 2,800 new widows joining the ranks every day. Lily, what’s the first thing you think of when you think of widows?   Whistler’s Mother. I’m not sure if she was a widow when the portrait was painted, but she...

It’s an auditory night. One house to the east a dedicated 12-year-old musician practices her violin. Two houses to the east a 16-year-old neighbor shoots hoops and develops his dribble in the concrete driveway. These beautiful young people are building skills,...

Yesterday (my “now” as I type this), Thursday, I did not want to write a blog. Not even Blog Number 444, which this happens to be. So yesterday afternoon (aka “this” afternoon) I used the time I’d set aside to draft the blog to instead finish reading a good book....

Fall has its pluses and minuses. It’s hard for me to not resent the shortening of daylight hours at this time of year up here in the Pacific Northwest. But within this annoyance there is also opportunity to experience wonder: more hours to observe the night sky....