Rereading influential novels at an older age can change their meaning The Summer Before the Dark by Doris Lessing (1973) was a book I misunderstood as about the onset of older age and menopause. The book as I read it … Read More
The Coast Starlight charges through the mountains It is 11 a.m. and the sun barely skirts the mountain top, striking the aspens bright yellow. The poplars are golden against the dusky lodgepole pine. The train is moving slowly, yet again, … Read More
The rail pass experience and wonderful visits The Bakken Oil Fields are alight at night time. Western North Dakota used to be vast plains, fields and black sky. Now the gas flares off the oil wells into the far distant … Read More
People tell me they’ve thought about taking Amtrak scenic routes: Here are my insights Early October along the Columbia Gorge meets fantasies about train travel. The sky is that beautiful crisp blue, the trees are changing, highlighted by the dark … Read More
Great News! It works! Stunning Images! Free and can purchase overpriced! The James Webb Space Telescope gives astronomers, physicists, and poets, years’ worth of work. We saw the first pictures in July, mere months ago, but the World didn’t do … Read More
The Kremlin Insiders did it. I fell on the way to the farmer’s market. I tumbled right into their scheme. When I fell, I was walking without my walking sticks, crossing a crumbling and well-pot-holed stretch of city street. They … Read More
Janis Ian’s Grammy-winning audiobook and the miracle of the internet Janis Ian was doing a farewell tour and I wrote about it in a post on this site. She is one of the singer-songwriters whose music brings me back to … Read More
Peaches are a sensual fruit. Five types of peaches and nectarines displayed their sweet fruit on one stand at the farmers’ market. Yellow, rosy, a little fuzzy, clean, white flesh, golden yellow flesh. I didn’t like peaches growing up in … Read More
The view was operatic–My yard, the slope, the river rock,The water, the further shore,Fields, sometimes deer, raccoons,The highway, concrete stream curving up the hillPast crops, an apple orchard,Farm buildings on the far horizon. I hung a birdfeeder on my deckFed nuthatches, … Read More
Lessons for how we can transition in older age Twenty-five years ago the conversation was about how the monarchy was out-of-touch. Queen Elizabeth was compared unfavorably to the younger generations — that is, Princess Diana — and found rule-bound and … Read More