As are many of my friends, I’m having a difficult time not thinking constantly about the situation in the Ukraine. So much of what I’m reading and feeling triggers childhood memories of body-chilling buzzers sounding off in elementary school, and all of us children rushing …

We were having dinner with a group of old friends who hadn’t gathered in some time, when somebody asked one of the couples about their estranged daughter. “Has anything changed on that front?” “No,” replied the young woman’s father. “Well, we heard she has a …

The world is not an easy place these days. There’s so much news about sad, unhappy situations and events, and so little—if any—good news. The world felt grim enough before Putin began his incursion into Ukraine, but add Putin and his troops to the mix, …

I have a confession to make: About four months ago I went to The Looking Glass and bought myself a second-hand macro lens for my camera. Because of my passion for small, I take lots of close-up photos, and it seemed I could go even …

While friends struggled with major complaints—heart and circulation problems, joint replacements–and minor inconveniences—loss of their youthful acute memory, aches and pains–aging didn’t bother me. Until my last birthday. After joking for years that I didn’t feel the least bit old because I’d always been immature, …

I often work with people struggling to write, the way I did as a student in college. They may have lots to say, but the minute they sit down to put those words on the page—or even think about sitting down—they feel demoralized. What they …

My attraction to fallen leaves continues, and now, in addition to swaths of leaves in artistic formations, I’m once again noticing individual leaves, but in a different way than before. When I used to focus on single leaves, I appreciated the forms and shapes they …