9:15 p.m., an early October night. I go outside, lured by the tree frogs and crickets, the same as I do in the height of summer – just to listen. The air is cool, more summer than autumn/less autumn than winter. There's a ring of light around the moon, a lunar halo. The sound, bells strung together … [Read more...] about Autumn-deprived
I write, therefore I knit
The day I released my dog from her suffering, I took up knitting again. My daughter had been wanting a scarf patterned with Griffyndor stripes since Harry Potter enchantment overtook her, and my decision to start knitting that day somehow felt life-affirming. I could not settle my thoughts … [Read more...] about I write, therefore I knit
A Dog’s Death
I listen for the sound of footsteps, the early morning signal that she's up and ready to go out. Rituals that take hold, thirteen years' worth in this case, are not so readily relinquished. If I listen long enough, I may even believe I'm hearing her. In a way, I am. I'm hearing her nails click … [Read more...] about A Dog’s Death
Days of Awe
The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called Yamim Noraim, Days of Awe. This is not something I had any awareness of as a young girl growing up in Brooklyn, putting on holiday clothes to gather, with my friends, at the synagogue (a.k.a. schul) I could see from my living room window. … [Read more...] about Days of Awe
Happiness
Mother's Day 2010: A long annoying beep wakes me, an alarm system's battery back-up out of whack. The power outage that began last night shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. Before going to bed I saw the sky light up. It's the kind of thing that happens when intense winds send tree limbs … [Read more...] about Happiness
I know It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll . . .
In the Canary Islands, descendants of an aboriginal people called the Guanches communicate via an ancient whistling language. As Diane Ackerman eloquently tells it in A Natural History of the Senses, "They trill and warble a little like quails and other birds, but more elaborately, and, from as far … [Read more...] about I know It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll . . .