The puppies had me flying out of the Airbnb the next morning accompanied by Stella, barking her head off. Andrew followed with his coffee. “Did you hear the owl this morning?” John asked. Andrew raised his eyebrows. The genuine-ness of the owls not to mention the crickets was still in question. We learned a little  Read the Rest…

Andrew and I (and Stella, the dog) traveled to Walla Walla last week. You might be forgiven for thinking we were going for the wineries but we were not. Neither of us are drinkers. We were there for the Walla Walla sweets and Ancestor Worship, as Andrew says. My father was born and grew up  Read the Rest…

I set Tuesday as the day to go to Durham because rain was predicted and I thought a cathedral would be a better place to spend a rainy morning than tromping around Berwick on the city walls.  My interest in Durham cathedral began with Bill Bryson and was encouraged by Sue. I had read and  Read the Rest…

It must be said at once that the Tweed is a tidal river, not a fabric or some reason to make a joke about rightly silly British place names of which there are hundreds; this just isn’t one of them. Berwick-Upon-Tweed is in Northumberland, in northeast England and two miles from the Scottish border. The  Read the Rest…

Easter morning on Calgary Bay. In my jet-lagged stupefaction, I kept trying to say something clever about this and had to patiently remind myself over and over that it was Calvary that had Easter associations, not Calgary. Our holiday cottage was on Calgary Bay on the isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. Ours was  Read the Rest…

Two weeks into the sunroom remodel—a mere spruce-up, actually—I began musing on what could have made the experience worse. It could have been the middle of summer when the sun room feels 150 degrees in the afternoon. Or it could .  .  . no, that’s about all that could have made it worse. I wasn’t  Read the Rest…

Two days before Christmas began the long slide into what would be Christmas Day. I again went for a long walk in the morning. This time I took the long way to the Farm Shop. I started at Wendy and Sue’s house on Chapel Lane, walked to the top of the High St, crossed the  Read the Rest…

Kay decided she was going to die on Saturday, July 9. She didn’t have the death-with-dignity drugs or anything, she just felt that was when she would die. Pursuant to that she sent out her own death notice on Friday, July 8. On Tuesday when she was still alive, the calls started coming in. “Who  Read the Rest…

I got up early my final day in Berkeley, not wanting to miss a minute of it. Suzanne shut the front door after retrieving her paper and I called from the kitchen where I was making tea, “I HEAR you!” She chuckled. Mary-Ellis picked me up in the morning and we moved my suitcase to  Read the Rest…

I crept about my routine at the cold Airbnb, bringing my tea up to my room and putting on the space heater. I had finished Empire of Pain and was into The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Later I met Suzanne on my way out the door. “You’re so quiet,” she commented. “Well.” I didn’t  Read the Rest…