This is the view from James Madison’s desk in his home, Montpelier, located in Orange County, Virginia. This desk is in the middle of his second-floor library that houses over 1500 books. On my recent visit, I arrived at this room after visiting the dining room where the guide spoke of the many guests and…
The two hundred and twenty-four steps introducing the Seven Falls hike at the Broadmoor kicked my butt. But not at first. I tackled this staircase with the energy and confidence of an Olympian, passing a guy in a NY Giants t-shirt with a curt “excuse me” as I ascended up the cliffside. He warned me…
This photo of my mother and me was found in my father’s wallet after he died at the age of thirty-three from lung cancer. I must be around two years old in the photo and my mother, twenty-one. At first, I regretted its wrinkles and creases and then admired them for what they revealed—the wear…
Have you ever lost a twenty-dollar bill and wondered where it ended up? A few months ago, I lost a $20. A crisp, green Benjamin – gone. I had found it only hours before in a pocket of a coat I hadn’t worn since I was commuting on a train – pre-COVID! Found money! So,…
Is it possible to be haunted by a word? If so, my word is “javelin.” Could I have the definition, please? A light spear, usually thrown by hand. J-A-V Could you use it in a sentence, please? She grabbed the javelin and threw it across the field. I stood on that stage, a lonely seventh-grader with one…
Revision is a messy business. Then again, so is moving a house. This is our family cottage undergoing a significant revision. In 2005, we moved the cottage to a new location after twenty-three years in this location on Whalehead Beach, NC. The area around the cottage had become cluttered with houses more akin to mini-hotels,…
