Monthly Archives: March 2011

The morning sky sags, heavy and gray, drooped around dead trees and grass like frayed cloth. Broken branches hang, caught in twisted strands from the ice storm three years ago. Clumps of sloughed growth spread across the field and backyard … Continue reading →

Found a pamphlet on the table last night. I think it fell out of our newspaper when I opened it. Either that, or someone walked in while we were gone and laid it on the kitchen table. So, I’m hoping … Continue reading →

I wake from this dream with a heaviness, something other than the sinus headache that keeps hanging on from one day to another to another. In it, I am sitting in the back seat of a car that one of … Continue reading →

Dan has prepared fish, small fillets skinned and marinated to take away the mud flavor. His wife, Christie, has cooked white beans and corn and puts a pan of cornbread into the oven. While she makes a salad and Dan … Continue reading →

My nephew and I meet at Granny’s as planned on Tuesday morning. I join him inside the house just long enough to say hello to Mom and her caretaker, Ann. We go back out and get started on cleaning up … Continue reading →

Well, well, well, March Madness is full underway again. I suppose I could be talking about whatever it is that draws rural men to play with fire or the way that the first hint of green makes others want to … Continue reading →

I work the edges first, back-burning along the fence line to keep the fire from running into the woods. Where the horse has not trampled, the grass is eager for fire; it catches and flames, melting synthetic strands of the … Continue reading →

A friend of mine grew up the flat plains of central Indiana. While he was still in high school, he heard a local farmer complaining bitterly about daylight savings time. It had been a very hot, dry summer and by … Continue reading →

Randa is standing at the sink, washing dishes. She offers to scramble eggs but I opt for Wheaties this morning. I get the milk and yogurt, set my bowl on the table and take a spoon from the draining rack, … Continue reading →

I have seen brothers closer than friends and friends closer than brothers. I have seen closeness drift into distance and unconcern transformed into compassion. I have seen lives bump from one crisis to another without purpose and I have seen … Continue reading →