On sunny school days, I often see the eight-year-old boy who lives near us running across the meadow we share, his long blond hair flowing as he aims his slingshot, sometimes at trees, sometimes at the deer or turkeys who graze in the meadow.  I asked my neighbor if he knew anything about the boy with the flowing hair and …

“There’s a big orange cat stuck in a tree a few houses up,” a neighbor walking down our street told me as I carried geranium pots from my car.  “Does it belong to you?” While not ours, I knew the cat she was referring to. His owners call him Lux but we call him Reds, the name of an old orange cat …

         I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end. ― Michelle Obama, Becoming When I was eight, growing up in Princeton, New Jersey, I spent many Saturday’s skating at …

When Copco Dam No. 1 , on the Klamath River as it crosses from Oregon to California, succumbed to dynamite last year, it unleashed a torrent of water into the abandoned stream bed below, overgrown with willows and weeds. For local whitewater enthusiasts, it offered the ride of a lifetime. (See video above!) “No turning back: The largest dam removal …

January 30, 2024 Canvassing is not for the faint of heart, especially if you are allergic to rejection like me.  A few weeks ago, I belatedly signed up to gather the last round of signatures for a local petition called “Jackson County for All,” a citizen’s initiative to reconstitute Jackson County’s Board of Commissioners, a personal nemesis in my four-year …

Anne Lamott, 2021 (photo by her son, Sam Lamott) As many of you may know, Anne Lamott was my inspiration for starting this blog — and keeping at it the past five years. Starting when 69-year-old Lamott entered her early 60s, she began writing and speaking about the gifts and challenges of aging, along with life lessons she has learned. …

Clockwise: Stills from “Aftersun,” “Faces Places,” “Three Minutes: A Lengthening,” “The Quiet Girl” The Academy Awards are upon us. “And the winner is . . .”  For as long as I can remember, I have watched the Oscars, even though some years I’ve seen only one or two of the nominees. In 1966, I joined 50 of my freshmen dormitory …