The symphony orchestra at my college was quite accomplished. For our next concert, we were to play “Tristan and Isolde” by Richard Wagner. Tristan and Isolde were illicit lovers, and the music is very heavy and passionate and takes a lot of practice to get it right. Many of the chord progressions were the introduction […]

We’re all guests here … that thought permeated my being as I made final edits in the stories I wrote about my grandmother and her life as an early 20th-century immigrant, stories about her and her children woven together like a beautiful tapestry. I felt somewhat haunted, as I had skewed history a bit, not […]

The summer of 1960 was particularly busy at my childhood home in Western Pennsylvania farm country. Mom had a big house, and six girls ranging in age from 5 to 13 to watch over – and assist with chores. Cousin Carolyn and I were the oldest. Sister Laura and Cousin Maggie were 11, and sisters […]

There’s an old saying attributed to Benjamin Franklin that states: “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” I tend to think that fish is smelly from the get-go, and guests? Well, it depends on who they are. We once had 52 relatives stay with us for a weeklong Fourth of July celebration and […]

From the moment the maple trees break bud to begin their crimson lace-making, until the cooling days of autumn when they shed their Technicolor dreamcoats, two competing narratives play in my head. One is welcoming, the other not. To paraphrase Dickens, it is the best of times, it is the worst of times. Relational to […]

At the head of this column of three, me – very tall, very handsome, very brave and very dumb. Following behind, two members of the “Greatest Generation” – very married, very retired and very great. Ahead of us, somewhere in this cavernous old inn, is Room 11. It is my first weekend as a bellhop.  […]

Entering my best years (I’m sure of it, because of the following), I’ll work on growth, discovery, health, making, writing and building love and friendships. Though the outcome remains to be seen, overnight stays from family are fuel for my light. In the last couple of months, family were guests, helping me begin this dance. […]

I grew up in a very small town in upstate New York. The town had zero tourist attractions, so unless you knew someone, it was not a town you would be inclined to visit. After living in real tourist locations like Charleston, South Carolina, and Portland, Maine, I find it interesting when I recall the […]