I must admit to struggling every year at New Year’s Eve in New Hampshire to feel in a New Year-ish kind of spirit. Outside it is usually very cold, sometimes icy and windy, and there is little light to brighten us up and feel festive. And I always find myself wondering why someone centuries ago Continue reading

Comedian George Carlin often talked about ‘stuff’ in his monologues around our contemporary way of life. Among his various insightful comments is this one: “A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.” With the holiday season fast upon us, many of us are stressing and Continue reading

My father had some unusual ideas were not the mainstream opinion. One example was shoes. He only allowed my younger sister Heather and me to use wide toed shoes when we were children. My mother had to drive us half an hour away to White Plains, New York to go to a shoe storethat stocked Continue reading

 This is the time of the year when we begin to go inside. The weather is slowly getting cooler, the vegetation is changing from emerald green to russet browns and oranges, and many of the birds that sing in the summer sky have flown to warmer latitudes. This is a rich time, at a soul Continue reading

I recently travelled to Japan, where I had lived four decades earlier. Japan is, of course, a place where they speak a different language and use a different writing system than the English that is my mother tongue. Somehow, when I lived in Japan full time, I got around without a map, or understanding the Continue reading