We were driving (again) somewhere (where?), and I was too young to ask. But we stopped by the side of the road, pulling on to the gravel on the berm. My father had us get out, my sister and me, and asked us to pull at the milkweed pods that were opening in the heat […]
Read moreFull swing– that’s where we are now. I’m just returned from Parent Night, and the school year is four weeks old. It feels like normal, feels like the way it’s always been. I don’t remember (for now) sleeping in on weekday mornings and having long days to putter around the house. We’re used to it; […]
Read moreIn the last few days, the humidity here has almost disappeared– the humidity that all summer hangs like gauze in the air and on my body, so that out for a walk or even going to the car I feel I’m wearing a shirt I don’t remember putting on. But sometime on Sunday evening the […]
Read moreI wondered for a moment today what it would take to get this house ready to sell it. Not that we’re planning on doing such a thing– that were impossible right now, and anyway, I’m attached to this place. But the idea has some appeal– getting it ready, I mean. A house for sale is […]
Read moreWilliam turned thirteen (13!!!) on Saturday, and on Friday night just before bed, he just sort of turned soft and quiet, and he said to me, “I’m feeling nostalgic.” And later, “I’m not sure I want to turn thirteen.” So I had to be strong for both of us, and tell him that a number […]
Read moreDonuts and coffee at the kitchen table, the morning light streaming into the breakfast room, and another half hour remains before we have to leave for church. Bill has the latest issue of the Independent Weekly before him, and I see there in the table of contents that this issue holds a review of the […]
Read moreWe’re coming to the end now and no one could possibly argue otherwise. Though the children have two weeks left (not really, not exactly, as their first day is two weeks from yesterday), I have only tomorrow and the weekend, and then I’m back in it–back in the school schedule that fills my days and […]
Read moreSo much in writing depends upon the superficiality of one’s days. One may be preoccupied with shopping and income tax returns and chance conversations, but the stream of the unconscious continues to flow undisturbed, solving problems, planning ahead: one sits down sterile and dispirited at the desk, and suddenly the words come as though from […]
Read moreWe’re on the verge– the Very Brink– of teenager-hood over here. I can hardly believe it. Will’s thirteenth birthday is next month, and I find myself looking for signs…. For the most part, Will isn’t showing many. I mean, the personality change that parents sometimes groan about hasn’t emerged. He’s still his joyful, delightful self. […]
Read moreIt comes today from William Faulkner. I think that, when it comes to writing, this guy knew a thing or two. “Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” And “A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid.” Now […]
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