I have kept my shoes on all afternoon for just this mad-rushing, this quick gathering—the blankets slipping from my arms. “Come on, you guys, come on,” Zoe says, and we hurry to huddle in the dark, pressing our bodies into each other. They say that the best place to be in the wind-ripping event of […]

Late afternoon and the light begins to fade, and we widen the gaps in the window blinds, tugging the dangling strings with our fingers.  Usually, I close up the house instead; slide the curtains closed against the coming dark, press my fingers flat against the chilled window panes.  Tonight though, I switch on the lamps […]

Snow falls, and the gathering white arrests our attention.  Somewhere between bacon sizzling and deftly wacking the eggs against the clear bowl with the tiny chip just there, my phone rings.  An automated message from the school system.  The voice comes through just a little too loud, and I lift my coffee cup (poured steamy the second […]

“Don’t come into the kitchen,” she says, rushing over to me as I walk in the door, as Adam squeezes past and dumps his bag on the table, emptying it of its contents.  “It’s a surprise…Don’t come in.” I close my mama mouth and smile, even though I’m thinking that I already know the surprise—she’s […]

By the time we make it to the greenway, it’s late morning.  I unload a bike for Adam—a beach cruiser, because he likes to keep things uncomplicated, and then I hand the girls their scooters.  The air is brisk, but the sun burns bright, and ahead of us, the sky is brilliant cerulean, almost sapphire. […]

Raindrops meander down the windowpanes this afternoon, blurring my view.  All day I watched those clouds fill, watched them turn their heavy gray, and now the emptying makes thin spaces for light.  From all the sharp cracking, the twisting of tree limbs, the lurking dark, a new sky will come, and soon. New always, always […]

I have this thing about white lights in Winter. For a few lingering weeks, after the Christmas decorations have been packed away for another year, white lights will still flicker and blink warm here, winking at me, reminding me that the magic is always, not just for a season.  Here and there, a bit of […]