“Doing?” William used to say. Or “Going?” This was when he was less than two years old, a chubby-faced blonde who filled almost every minute of my days. There were only three of us in the family at that time, and these questions pursued Bill and me fairly constantly. They meant, as perhaps you have […]
Read moreSo I’m sitting on my living room sofa yesterday, just sitting, enjoying the company of my beautiful mother (who, alas, has now gone home) and my dear tworivers (who has also gone home, because she never stays forever), watching the wind turn the leaves to silver outside the window, when my mother says to me:”You […]
Read moreI haven’t posted anything here in awhile. And there are several reasons for this, but I’ll give you only the most practical of them: I’ve been without an internet connection for two weeks. Yes, I spent the last two weeks with sand in my shoes– and I am definitely bragging (as opposed to complaining)– enjoying […]
Read more“Beautiful people think they need to enhance nature and “spruce themselves up,” presumably as a way of conforming to the pleasing role they play in life or of providing a service for gifts received– which, when taken as a kind of piety, is certainly excusable, whereas there is something sad and foolish about ugly people […]
Read moreThe Christmas set manufactured by Playmobil includes an angel, a donkey, a cow, two sheep, one shepherd, a manger, a little baby, Mary, Joseph, a camel, and three elaborately equipped Wise Men. When she went downstairs to the storage room with her dad and Uncle Jeff the other day, this is what Emma Grace brought […]
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It took years to make this happen. The last time we all got together (other than one fairly disastrous Christmas—and then we weren’t all together) was in early September of 2001 (before the 11th), and even then we weren’t all together: one of us was missing, and that’s not Everyone, is it? Even now, frankly, […]
Read more“Both children were looking up into the Lion’s face as he spoke these words. And all at once (they never knew exactly how it happened) the face seemed to be a sea of tossing gold in which they were floating, and such a sweetness and power rolled about them and over them and entered into them […]
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So I didn’t realize this, but in the last entry I only posted photos of the female cousins. How convenient. Here, I’ll post the photos of the boy cousins. This first photo is Brendan, who is 3 and a half. He is a delightful fellow, and he reminded me of some of the many reasons […]
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We’re here, enjoying the view of the limitless blue, enjoying each other, and enjoying more junk food than, really, I knew existed. We’re here with Bill’s family: all seven brothers, four wives, assorted children. There are twenty-four of us in all, and one more is on the way. Tonight my cooking team is on duty, […]
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As with so many things, this seemed as if it would take forever. It seemed, in fact, sometimes, as if it would never actually happen, even though I told him it would. You will learn to read, I told Everett. Really. In fact, some day it will be so easy for you to read that […]
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