‘Tis the week before Christmas, and all through the island house, all the creatures are stirring and have already accomplished the following: Baked Christmas cookies twice Shopped with a ten-year-old girl for another ten-year-old girl (a harrowing and laborious feat) Attended one Christmas party Missed one Christmas party (long story) Discovered, after all our paring […]
Coastal Christmas Ornaments for 2017
Over Thanksgiving weekend, Baby-Girl and I did some shopping. This is not our typical holiday weekend practice, but the three boys decided to go camping and left us to our own devices for a whole weekend, so Saturday found us hitting all the island shops, scouting out, among other things, coastal Christmas ornaments. Given that […]
On Thanksgiving
Maybe it’s just my imagination, but the shrimp boats always seem to be the most prevalent near our shoreline right around Thanksgiving. I watch them at dawn, the sun rising fire-like behind them, and in the afternoon, as they travel through the sun’s white path across the waves. At dusk, I watch their lights turn […]
Better Than Our First Drafts Revisited
When I directed a high school writing lab, my favorite part of the job was working with students on their college application essays. It was challenging at first, teaching them to answer the prompts while showing their best selves in their own best words. But after I learned to ask the right questions and to […]
Fall All the Same
During a scene in The Great Gatsby where several characters languish in the summer heat of New York City, one character chastises another for being “morbid†in her attitude and declares that “life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.†Here, the weather doesn’t get “crisp†in the fall the way […]
Halloween and Other Thoughts
Don’t worry; I didn’t bring a pumpkin to the beach again this year. This is just a different shot of last year’s pumpkin. I like to get my money’s worth whenever possible. Nor, to my knowledge, have I walked around with a large toothpaste stain on my clothes like last year. There was no need, […]