• The View From Here

    This album was written over the course of ten years. In that time I have lost both my parents and have had two bouts with cancer. In addition, I found out I have a paralyzed vocal cord. So in that time, there have been seismic shifts, not only in the way that my voice responds

  • And On The Same Day

    AND ON THE SAME DAY! They sat on the bench at the bus stop under a cloudless azure sky, each staring straight ahead at the small, neat little building across the road which looked like a Methodist church that had been converted to some other purpose, possibly a private home. The bulletin board in the

  • This I Believe, I Believe

    Today marks the end of a series on NPR called, “I Believe”. I only heard it for the first time maybe two years ago, and I must confess, every time they announced a new segment I half expected to hear a bar or two of a song that was popular when I was a little

  • MOTHER-IN-LOVE

    Back when Art proposed to me (well, when he asked whether I thought we ought to get married), I was happy with the prospect of our new life together, but I had no idea what to expect in terms of his family, which was about to become *my* family. I had already had the experience

  • Christmas, Loss, and Frosty

    It’s January 1st. Time to strike the Christmas set. Time to strip the house of all of our little gee-gaws and doo-dads — the reindeer mugs, the Christmas Tree candles, the holiday tablecloth, the Christmas cards from our near-and-dear who are scattered hither and yon all over the world. Finally, it is time to take

  • God Bless Us, Every One!

    Well, it’s officially here — The recession that everyone has been predicting and wringing their hands over. I don’t know anyone, literally, anyone, who has not been affected. People in every walk of life, at every rung of the socioeconomic ladder, of every political stripe — all of us are feeling the pinch. Some, more

  • HOLIDAY SHOPPING LIST

    Most every Christmas — okay, *every* Christmas, so far — I have been stressed out and overwhelmed. Every Christmas I vow not to do it. Every Christmas, I do. Oh, I start out with the best of intentions. I make a detailed list, not only for gifts, but also for cards. I study the catalogs

  • Our Little Black Box

    About ten years ago at Christmas, back when we lived in Tennessee, I gave Art a radio. Art is not an easy man to gift – Whatever he wants, he simply acquires, and what he desires is usually pretty simple. But he had expressed an interest in a short-wave radio, which delighted me. Finally, a