Uncharted Territory

Mermaids. Lovers Island. Gull Rocks. Umbrella Islands. Sounds enchanting, doesn’t it? I have been here before. On white-knuckle rides with wakes that crash onto shores and startle gulls. There is no romance to rocks at that speed. But we took a slower pace, me and this man who breathes water like I breathe air. As […]

A Big Fan

In the front bedroom of the house my Grandmother owned from the time her husband was killed in Okinawa until her own death in 1998, there was a fan. It was large window fan, stalwart like her, with a six inch rubber belt wound around two pulleys, the partnering of which turned the giant steel […]

Sitting with Dragonflies

FOR MADDIE Originally Published November 2010   On Saturday, a friend posted the following on his Facebook page: “Tired today. Plan on doing NOTHING!” Two hours later, a new post appeared: “OK, so ‘nothing’ didn’t last long…kitchen is cleaned top to bottom and I’m on my 2nd load of laundry and off to clean the […]

The Time Has Come, the Walrus Said, to Talk of Many Things

The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright — And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night. The moon was shining sulkily, Because she thought the sun Had got no business to be there After […]