Note: This is the eulogy I read at my son’s Dec. 11 funeral service in Montpelier, Vt. I read it through wet, blurry vision, my voice weak with emotion, and thought I’d share it verbatim. A dim, waning crescent moon slumped right in the cold southern sky, casting a crooked grin downward as I fed […]

September’s here. The full August moon is waning; never really appeared till after the fact, when low gray skies opened for a splendid, cool, clear, sunny weekend, great weather for opening the barn and letting warm, dry winds chase out lingering dampness. The weekend was special for another reason. Grandson Jordie paid a solo visit, […]

I’m closed into my study, air-conditioner purring, sun trying to poke through dense gray skies and break up the muggy air. My older son is crafting a new song in the room at my back and, me, I’m hoping to find enough time to mow later, wondering where this weekly writing journey will take me. […]

I know readers will probably get sick of hearing about my first and only grandchild, Jordan Steel Sanderson, 2, of central Vermont, but I must share with you his first hunting story. On his visits to Greenfield, Jordie has become quite fond of my neighbors’ flock of chickens, which he chases and feeds with absolute […]

After enduring the frightful years of parenting difficult adolescents, you tend to forget the joys of young, sponge-brained, preschool boys, eager to absorb whatever you throw at them. Then, if you’re lucky, a grandson arrives and drops a refresher course right into your breadbasket. This past weekend was a case in point, when Jordan Steele […]