The house is very quiet, this house on Mariposa. I am not complaining, for we are dog sitting and his English and our retriever don’t always break through the language barriers. His name is Finn. Fortunately, he loves cheese and treats, and sleep too, for he is sleeping still, now. …

I wake with questions. A meeting. What should I wear? It all depends on when I go swimming afterwords. This sweater, or that? But I want to pack and if I wear this one, I can’t pack it. And then the swimming question, all over again, should I, taking those…

We made it through the snow cyclone combination with Lake Effect snow to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. We had a burning question to ask and that was how was the sap running? We got our answer as a sample, made the night before, and offered to us in a…

Of course there is a fire, burning nicely, thank you very much. Of course there is coffee, hot from a pre-warmed carafe. Of course there is a sleeping dog by the fire. Of course Annie is out, though the rhododendron leaves are curled tight against the cold. The frost is…

Like a seaman casting off the line and jumping onto the boat, Annie jumps onto my chest. I am glad her paws do not serve to hold a cup of water, for if they could, they would and then I would jump up in shock. If she could push, she…

The firelight catches the candlesticks, unlit. A bit of light catches on the round glass of the china cabinet. The china is still, the candles are still. The flame’s reflection flickers, and moves the shadow of the chair back and forth. My shadow, looming in its own chair agains the…

Grays and brown color the trees that look like candles stuck into the frosting of the new covered snow. …

The clock ticks, the heater fan trumpets, and just so quiet is utterly banished, the fire cracks. The early morning chores, how can they even be chores, are done, and with each one the thought of undeserving grace. I bend to build the fire, from dry wood in the mud…

Oh! The coffee is good. The cup is wide, an old Blue Willow, with a saucer so I don’t have to fret over the new tablecloth. Of course the new tablecloth’s ‘newness’ refers only to its pulling out of the drawer, where it had been carefully placed after ironing. It…