You hear them before you see them — usually early morning, well before the time you want to get up. One calls, another answers and just like that it’s a conversation in prime numbers with more voices joining by the minute. Crows, ravens and other avian delights are something I never pondered until I arrived […]
E.B. White is a writer I have always admired. The celebrated essayist, columnist, and beloved children’s author is also a writer I try — try as I might — to emulate by making feeble attempts to use words the way he did. This holiday season was different. The entire year has been different, but we […]
“Stories don’t go away, I have learned that. Whatever happens is with us forever. Whatever has ever happened in this house and in this room is with us forever. That other life endures in these walls, all of it. We are a family. We love each other deeply. We will return to ourselves. We hold […]
Note: I wrote this piece in December 2019, well before the days of COVID-19 and when separate meant safe. This holiday season will be different, yet the feelings and memories it will bring are needed now more than ever because light pushes the shadows back, leaving goodness in its place. As a society, are we […]
Green. That is the predominant color that blooms Downeast year-round. That and the color blue during summer months. Vast stretches of primordial forests composed of hardwoods, softwoods and the evergreens take one back to simpler days when opportunities were abundant and so very attainable. This is the time of year when the dropping temperature flips […]
A recent Wall Street Journal article said that Nevada was joining more than a dozen other states and dropping the parallel parking requirement from its driver’s license test. No more will the nervous determination of that first-time driver be challenged. Many of us remember that moment when we shifted to reverse, turned our head and […]
“A common lament of the World War II generation is the absence today of personal responsibility,” Tom Brokaw once wrote. I believe this quote from Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation, could now be amended given the times we’re in. The words “praise” and “presence ” would replace the words “lament” and “absence”. I believe when […]
Music is powerful. Faced with a trying situation, even that sometimes maddening memory, when looking for peace we often turn to music. A particular song, composition or even a melody can move one to another place, chase away the turmoil and bring peace. Crafted and expanded upon from a short story, Jim Nichols’ new novel, […]
Water is everything. It is life sustaining; it washes, massages and comforts when hot or cold. The sound of water calms and soothes a worried spirit because it forever runs in our hearts and in our minds whether we are in its presence or not. Water is us. Downeast tides are something to see. I […]
Given the current homebound life, some have taken to filling time with all those things they wanted to get to but never did. For many, that means time is filled with personal endeavors rather than those once shared with others. Books are being opened now more than before. The TV is perpetually on — not […]
