Heart-chitecture

The temperature reached a balmy 1-degree so I thought a walk was in order. New England’s tender pouch is presently being crushed in the hands of some angry, Norse deity of bitterness and frozen misery. Cabin fever is real, which says a lot considering the miracle of WiFi and food delivery services. I layered again …

Green Under There

In New England, the weather is as much an emotional and psychological barometer as it is an actual indicator of abundance or depletion, of consistency or the wildly erratic. “It’s been a hard one,” is a phrase a lot of New Englanders say when we’re talking about long, punishing stretches of cold and snow. A …

Sunday at the Cafe

For over a year I've been corresponding with a friend from Germany, as in writing, like, actual, like, letters. Together we are on a mission to save the post office! The following is part of a letter I wrote recently. My dear friend! It’s a balmy 27 degrees in Boston today. My crocuses are huddling …

Pink Houses and Apple Pies

It was 1983 and my brother and I watched a lot of MTV. Music videos were a revelation for artists and the industry. When it launched in 1981 MTV was a storytelling platform, giving musicians the chance to render their songs in a visual language. The phrase “take the ball and run with it” comes …

Snow Days

The first real snow of winter rolled through Boston on Saturday. The next real snow was dogging its heels and would make itself felt with some spectacular swagger a few days later. Kid winter is so different than grown-up winter. Kid winters are faces smudged to the window glass, ogling the fat flakes, bouncing on …

Persephone & Me: It’s a Fall Thing…

We kept a copy of Bullfinch’s Mythology on the bookcase in our living room. Compact, slightly musty smelling, its blue cover was cracked and worn, the pages thin, yellowed, and the print punishingly small. Bull. Finch. A cross between an amphibian and a flitty little winged thing. I loved this book so hard when I …