I think this rainy weather must be irritating the young bulls as much as it is us! They’re bellowing and banging heads together, Displaying. Pawing the ground, heads down, snorting, ready to charge. Hanging out in grumbly groups; Generally disgruntled. Except for these two youngsters, just getting away from the crowd and staying still, next…

Nine months ago our 48″ stove, super functional with two ovens, started to play up. Granted it was 20 years old but it looked stalwart and strong and we didn’t want to scrap the old boy! Our home warranty, American Homeshield, replaced countless parts to get the ovens working; the service repairman was patient and…

My Russian blue, named Shadow, has an endearing habit which I know I should discourage but he is so adorable I just can’t. When I’m eating dinner he hops up next to me on the bench and gently pats my arm, “Here I am!” he seems to say, “Mind if I join you?” I ignore…

This is your first birthday as a father! Many Happy Returns of the Day Son! I was there when your daughter was born, at the same hospital where I had you. And almost immediately there you were, all 6’2″ of you, walking into the waiting room grinning at me from ear to ear, “I just…

My brother texted me the week we arrived in London and asked what we’d been up to? “London’s the place to see shows,” he responded when I told him. It is.  No advance bookings needed, just a wander into the West End and a quick stop at any number of theaters to ask if there…

We travelled to London in January… Not for the weather, who ever goes to England for the weather? We went to simply be Londoners for a season…or, in this case, a month. When family and friends joined us along the way for a while all the better. I miss this artsy capital and had yearned…

Returning to England after six years immediately brought with it both expected joys, the ducking and weaving along busy streets, the standing around waiting for buses, the damp and dewy softness of my skin, minding the gap, the hallowed space of our 1,000 year old church, the graveyard where my parents are interred, looking right to…

I have a recurring dream that my bank in England will close its doors to me so that I am unable to access my funds. A nightmare really…not one I want to come true… Not a sweet dream that holds meaning, points the way, predicts…releases me from the hum-drum of everyday life. “Flights of fancy,”…

On leaving London six years ago I packed up three suitcases filled with items I couldn’t take home with me and couldn’t throw away. “When I come back I’ll pick up the rest of my stuff,” I assured my brother as he man-handled the very heavy bags into his car to be stored. I don’t…

Funny expression this English one, Many Happy Returns of the Day! The Day meaning Birth-day of course! Hubs and I left for London on New Year’s Eve and welcomed in the new decade somewhere over Greenland with a screaming baby across the aisle. Daughts, the afternoon before (on MY birthday) had texted, “Now let me confirm…you…