Death is a fact of life, especially for those of us in middle age. Although a few of us may wrestle with the issues of mortality on a personal level, it is more likely that we are traveling final roads with parents. The past few years have been filled with goodbyes for both my extended […]

He has been sober since late summer, a result of finally being jailed — not for drug use as we had all expected, but for excessive noise and property damage. The irony is that he was not under the influence when he finally lost it. He had just emerged from a haze that was years […]

In 1958, we lived in Jacksonville, Indiana on Clay Avenue, next to what had been a farm in earlier days. Now our place, and theirs, was on a street lined with elm trees.The barn next door was a playground for us all, but particularly for the grandchildren of the couple who had lived in the […]

I spend a lot of time in Prescott. My neighbors are few and far between, so when I get a call about an emergency, I tend to pay attention. Recently, Rebecca who lives on the next property over from me sent me an email that something terrible had happened in her chicken coop.
When I realized […]

Millie was barely old enough to have a litter. Half Maltese mixed with yorkie and chihuahua, she is tiny and intelligent. We had planned to spay her after the holidays. New Year’s Eve, semi-terminal, ancient Jack found enough of a spark behind his failing heart for romance. The first of March, against all odds, Millie […]

                Julie Andrews will never know what a champion she had in my mother. To Mom, Miss Andrews was the epitome of the girl who could do everything. In fact, that’s what she would say. “The girl can do everything.”
                When the onscreen role of Eliza Doolittle went to Audrey Hepburn instead of Julie Andrews, […]

It’s no secret to anybody who knows me that I love animals — almost all animals. I can usually find something endearing about even the most toothy and scaly specimen. However, my favorite non-human mammal is the domestic dog, and my life has been enriched by a long line of them.
My mother died by inches […]

For almost 50 years, I have slept with a small dog in the bend of my knees. Of course, it hasn’t been the same dog. I don’t have the Guinness Book of World Records on red alert. However, a number of the dogs have made it comfortably into double digits.
I realized last night that I […]

I made stew the other night, and as is my habit, cut the carrots up in larger than average pieces. I have always done it this way, so my mother could pick them out. She hated carrots in any form, raw or cooked, but didn’t mind the flavor of them if she didn’t have to […]

It does get cold and rainy in Phoenix –  just not often. However, we have been in the middle of record lows and enough precipitation to upset the wild birds that visit our suburban back yard. My daughter and I bought some wild bird seed on sale, and sprinkled the contents in the grass just […]