Packing Up St. Patrick’s Day

She gathers the shiny plastic shamrock necklace, the felt shamrock bow tie, the whimsical bobbing shamrock head bands, and places them carefully in the green storage box decorated with pot-o-golds. “Will they still believe in leprechauns the next time I open this box?” she wonders. The enormity of the question astounds her. The real question [...]

The Dancing Leaf

“Look, Mom! Come quick!” Ravi exclaims excitedly. Mom is cooking breakfast and usually responds at a snail’s pace. “What is it, Rav?” “Hurry, come see the dancing leaf!” This sounds intriguing so I put down the spatula and join he and Nisha at the front picture window. We have been blessed with some snow overnight [...]

Tears for the Locust

I had seen the contractor with clipboard examining the neighbor’s locust tree a few weeks back but had forgotten all about it. Today the trucks, chainsaws and chippers arrived to take the tree down. At first the children enjoyed the spectacle, setting up chairs at the back patio door to watch the show. Then the [...]

“School-Centric”

“Welcome to my magic show!” exclaimed the presenter, dressed in a vest of playing card pattern. He looked out over the crowd below him, the pre-schoolers and after-schoolers on the carpet of the library meeting room, the middle school students in the chairs in the back. The excitement in the room was electrifying as the [...]