After years of planning and saving, I was on a cruise, visiting ports along the Iberian Peninsula in a whirlwind of activity.  That September afternoon I was taking a break from my intense schedule while the ship was docked in Valencia,…

Over in the eastern corner of the front yard, the old Bradford pear tree is just about to bloom.  Right now, its branches are filled with buds, tightly rolled pearly bundles that will soon burst into azalea-like blossoms. The flowers linger…

When my sons were Boy Scouts, they each worked hard to earn the badge called Orienteering. At the time, computer-assisted navigation was a resource reserved for ocean, air or space travel.  For almost everyone else, the time-tested method to navigate by…

The old cast iron stove radiated enough heat to warm the entire first floor of our New England home, but the byproduct of those cozy fires was ashes– lots and lots of ashes. Cleaning out the stove quickly filled our battered…