Moncrieff in Michigan

Ann Arbor’s emergency sirens went off in the wee hours, Wednesday morning.  On and on they went.   Even people who’d managed to sleep through the raging thunderstorm woke up for the sirens.  When at last the sirens stopped, some of us warm in our beds were giving thought to closing our eyes again and going… Continue reading Sirens

It rained and the sun came out alternately during my shift at the Thrift Shop yesterday.  Customers focused on the sunshine portion of the program.  With determination.  True, one person did buy a rain jacket, but it was a London Fog.  And red.  And only cost ten dollars.  She would’ve bought that jacket at any… Continue reading A Chaos of Deer

When I looked out at the back yard one morning this week, I saw a large tan flank.  What could this be? asked my pre-breakfast mind.  A camel?  A donkey?  I am not responsible for where my mind goes before breakfast, and the haunch could have belonged to a camel or a donkey.  I’ve seen… Continue reading R.I.P., Rascal

Changeover has happened at the Thrift Shop.  You know it as soon as you glance into the shop.  Step in, and you can feel your spirits rise.  Spring colors are everywhere.  One round rack holds only turquoise and chartreuse tops.  Pastel colors are everywhere.  So is crisp drama—lots of black and white, even in the… Continue reading Changeover

     I’ve been on a quest this week.  Two, actually.  The March issue of Better Homes & Gardens offers a number of recipes featuring sorghum, which it describes as an ancient grain with a “lightly earthy flavor and satisfying chewiness,” “nutty and slightly sweet.”  The recipes looked like an interesting change of pace, so I… Continue reading Quests

Twigage.  The ground is covered with twigage.  With the strength of the wind today, we’re fortunate not to be wading through branchage.  Twigage is hard enough for Rascal, whose vision isn’t what it used to be.  I try to lead him a course free of impediment, but interesting scents entice him hither and yon, and… Continue reading Twigage

Daydreaming while walking around Thurston Pond last Sunday, I realized I was feeling quite chipper.  It’s always great to walk around the pond, but what in particular was giving me such a lift?  Then a bird sang, “Babalu.*”  Ahhh.  The red-winged blackbirds are back.  Spring will come.      When we were in elementary school, we… Continue reading Babalu

There must be a doozy of a temperature inversion today, because sounds are carrying forever.  Rascal and I were walking in the south end of the Sugarbush woods when we started hearing the train this morning.  It must be crossing Traver, I thought at first, enjoying the engineer’s whistle.  Now it seems possible the sound… Continue reading Voices

Hood up and chin tucked deep into my scarf, one cold recent morning, I heard welding.  Peering out from under the hood and over the scarf, I found myself at one of the vantage points from which it’s possible to see into the site where the new Logan School is under construction.  Sure enough, there… Continue reading Sparks and Trinkets

     We had a wine-and-cheese get-together with the neighbors last weekend.  Before we set off on the two-house trek to the host house, we prepared a platter of veggie balls and grabbed an unopened bottle of cocktail sauce to serve with them.  As the cocktail sauce hadn’t been opened before, I took the precaution of… Continue reading CSE