choosing life when we moved to Connecticut almost a decade ago I had an idea to plant a tree each year as a way to mark time and to leave something growing when we left and so I planted two peach trees over two summers today I cut them down not because they were dead…

ice age if you have to go out in winter ice is not your friend whether the white ridges or the translucent layer disguised as asphalt ice will take you down maybe that’s what they had in mind when it became the acronym for those who knock down doors and scour streets scraping people into…

mirror image what is it about grief and loss that makes life feel as if the clouded glass through which we gaze carries the same caution as the passenger-side mirror: “objects may be closer than they appear” the old songs sing of crossing rivers and farther shores, of flying away like a bird freed from…

living among the dead one church member stood during prayer time to mark five years since his wife died at coffee hour another said next Sunday will be two years since her husband died when I checked email I saw a request to help with a burial of who died last night and then at…

holy weak 1. Jesus rode into town on a borrowed donkey not wanting to be king. we have a president who thinks he’s a king and is demanding a parade. one is not like the other. 2. to equate criticizing Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza with being antisemitic is the same as saying criticizing Trump for…

rage room I was in a different city a few weeks back and saw a rage room a shop that invited you to come in a break things through the open door we saw drop cloths and a stack of sledgehammers as well as sheets of glass plates cups and televisions stuff that would shatter…

remember this this grab for power is an act of desperation it may seem measured calculated deliberate but look in their eyes and you can see fear behind all of the greed the damage is real but their frantic grasp for permanence is not nobody lasts forever despot or democrat history forgets us all we…

gathering tomorrow two groups will gather on opposite ends or our town green the first will be a funeral for a gentle man who loved people and their pets well the second will be a rally of solidarity in the wake of all that is being destroyed in both cases we will gather not fully…

honest answer one of the traditions that comes with aging is most every nurse who checks me in for an appointment, no matter the doctor or the reason, asks “Do you feel safe at home?” the question is a part of a perfunctory list quickly-asked queries with expected answers they will expect to hear again…