When I retired from education, I had a penchant for butterflies.  I told myself, family, friends, and acquaintances that butterflies reflected growth and change. I wasn’t retiring, I said. I was transforming. I was convinced at the time that I was emerging into my true self.  It’s been a journey. My life has been changing.…

We live in an aging neighborhood near the Chesapeake Bay. The majority of the residents’ age is over seventy. It’s a special place – an older community. It’s full of groups of friends and acquaintances. Of summer people and year-round residents. Overall, it’s a caring group, at least on the periphery. I’m not sure what…

Christmas has always been a magical time for me since childhood.  As the days march along, memories of Christmas past still fill me with wonder in December.  I’m sure no one has had an idyllic childhood, but many of my Christmas memories bring me joy. I grew up in the sixties, in a rural, suburban…

It’s the day to bring back the light! There’s a term in Italian “Dara Alla Luce,” which usually refers to giving birth, but translated means to “bring to the light.” The Solstice reflects this. We have endured the dark and are ready to be reborn. There are so very many references to the Solstice, religious…

I read some time ago, an article or chapter, on the benefits of tending to ‘Hearth and Home.’ I enjoyed the language and agree that a ‘Hearth and Home’ day is one of the tickets to feeling grateful and better. We lead such very busy lives. I find it almost satirically comic to wish for…