Home Ecology — January 12, 2023 As I pulled into my parking space, NPR was reporting on intense rain, mud, and potential slides in California. I stepped out into our own precarious weather (carefully, because I am old now and need to practice safe standing and walking all the time)…

Letter from Away — January 5, 2023 The second act of the movie “8 First Dates” is the morning after meeting of a veterinarian and a television star who wake up in bed in a model home in a mall filled with 15-foot matryoshka dolls. Although we watched them spend…

Home Ecology — December 29, 2022 I write this at the hectic end of a hectic year, when pot luck get-togethers can save your spirit or drive you crazy. Go anyway. If nothing else, you’ll probably be able to make a work lunch, or even a supper, from your friends’…

Letter from Away — December 22, 2022 I spent a great deal of time this week, wondering what I would write about, not only for today’s paper but for the next two as well. …

Home Ecology — December 15, 2022 Almost every culture tells stories about the unexpected guest. In Jewish folklore there are repeated tales about Elijah the prophet showing up at the door, hungry and cold. …

Letter from Away — December 8, 2022 I spent the weekend driving to Massachusetts and back in order to sit for a few hours with my cousins. We grew up together, five children with three parents, in a suburb west of Boston. My aunt and uncle and cousins in their…

Home Ecology — December 1, 2022 Welcome to a new publication. Recently my editor at Courier Publications asked me to write a column to help people maintain a high quality of life, no matter how their incomes fluctuate. For now, I will publish Home Ecology every other week. …

Letter from Away — November 24, 2022 I woke this morning in Vermont, on a comfortable bed in a quiet room with a big window that looks out through the miles of woods that surround this house. …

Letter from Away — November 17, 2022 I started today’s column in a paper composition book that was probably made in the mid-1960s. My mother, an elementary school teacher and otherwise very ethical, brought leftover school supplies home at the end of each year. …