On quiet evenings at home, it’s fun to daydream about packing up and moving to some faraway place. Books like Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun or Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence give us details that let us dream and sigh in glowing technicolor. They fill our imaginations with convincing particulars like sunny terraces, … Read More
I meant to edge up to retirement the way I’ve edged up to most of my life’s big changes: I would 1) read about it, 2) talk to friends, and 3) journal. It didn’t work out like that. Because my husband is a few years older than I am, so are his old friends from … Read More
As for many of us, the morning after I retired was a Saturday. It was a weekend, and besides I still had papers to grade. Then I had to pack for our summer up in Nova Scotia, and drive up, and settle in. (There’s unpacking, stocking the refrigerator, setting up my desk, checking on how … Read More
As an asthmatic kid in the Midwest, I was stuck in a steam-tent for days and weeks on end. My mom was busy, not only with keeping my room scrupulously free of dust, pollen, and germs, but also with my new baby brother. It was books that kept me company. Most of the time, those … Read More