By the miracle of air travel we arrived in Puglia, Italy. Puglia is a region on the coast directly east of Naples. The Gargano peninsula rises up rocky and imposing protecting the internal farmland that looks easily like Missouri; flat and green with the young harvest of corn to come. …

Last week I scurried off to our local beach for a pre-dinner swim. I left my sons and husband to sort out hamburgers and a salad. It might have been a risky choice to get a meal, but it had been a long week, and I needed a break. My…

When I was twenty three and newly married to my first husband we bought a very old house in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It took all our savings and some parental loans to come up with the $75k that seemed outrageous in 1983. …

My father, who is ninety-one, lives in a “Retirement Community”. After years of begging he went there after he had a mild stroke. He suddenly felt alone and vulnerable. He pared down his possessions to a few pieces of furniture and a considerable amount of art and moved into two…

It’s Monday morning after my son’s wedding. I’m in Woods Hole, in my shack in the garden. It’s a densely foggy day. The lawn has grown long in the week since we were last here. And it’s wet. Wet feet and ankles at six am from walking the dogs, Ziggy…

I actually own this domain. It’s what my mother-in-law calls me, with admiration. It’s been my identity since before adolescence and it continues to follow me around. I’m a do-er. I see problems where others don’t know they exist. Mine. Other people’s. I lazer-focus in on what the issues are…

A wonderful painting at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston says it all about the emotions involved in beginning. It’s a small painting, (9 3/4 x 12 1/2in.) and quite dark. You must study it closely which always puts you in jeopardy of being scolded by the guards. …

I regularly fall off one “wagon” or another. It’s suddenly five o’clock and I haven’t meditated or exercised! Well intentioned, I haven’t sat down to write a blog post, return emails, made a new drawing, cleaned my office, paid the bills, bought groceries, called my father, or bathed the aging…