Category Archives: Uncategorized

(a garden or part of a garden devoted to roses) Mine consists of three straggly bushesstubbornly rooted by the backyard fence. Not the ones Mrs. Young planted here thatwe inherited after we bought her house— those died, one by one, … Continue reading →

You are such an interesting conversation. You belong here.—Pádraig Ó Tuama, from “How to Be Alone” ••• “Listen,” I say to you more often than I care to admit,“You are not going to believe this.” And then I unspool some … Continue reading →

“Such a pretty day”—complimenting those in chargeof the acutely blue skyand end-of-summer leavesthat have not yet begun to turn, though some have fallen hereand there, a sign of what’s to come.Perhaps, like the squirrels, I’m storingup this ideal walking weather … Continue reading →

Sunnyside restaurant, Tahoe City, Lake Tahoe As we eat on the deck above the lakefor the last time, weeks beforethe restaurant will shutter for good, beyond the blue, the mountains blushas the sun lowers its curtain, thenpurple and darken into … Continue reading →

Babe, you hiked two milesover crunchy granite trailsat 6,200 feet, far aboveour usual sea level walks, good sport that you are,knowing that I wanted to doa little explore around thismountain lake we love. And later, you sacked outon the bed … Continue reading →

I don’t know, but I sit myself down next to one and ask. And then I listen. And in the quiet, the water making almost no sound that I can detect,Stream answers: We remember everything. As do you.Especially on the … Continue reading →

As I set off on my morning walk,I think of a woman I know, older than I,beginning a pilgrimage 5,500 miles awayacross 100 kilometers of trail older thanboth of us, far older than this troubledcountry we call home. What will … Continue reading →

(Lake Tahoe, west shore) Jackie has her phone readyas Ryan nimbly hoists himself uponto a piling on the pier, a goodten feet above the water. Balancing like a tightrope walker,he does not teeter and takes hisfirst leap into the lake … Continue reading →

(D. L. Bliss State Park, Lake Tahoe) As we take the granite steps,slowly, slowly, we see the topof the upper rock, tons of granite restingprecariously on a slenderstone base, we two older, far less sure-footed beings,mindful of our own balance,which … Continue reading →

(Lake Tahoe, California) As a whopper of a hurricanecalled Lowell steamrolls its waytoward our favorite Pacific island, we arrive at the largest alpine lakein North America to find it whippedby wind into a deep sea green, though in a matter … Continue reading →