Life Style & Travel

UNITED STATES—It is a new scene. There is darkness, closed shades. A huge Victorian bed against the wall, and all around there is stuff, dusty boxes, knicknacks, kewpie dolls and tennis rackets. A figure lies in bed--Davy. His left leg is propped under the covers in a leg cast. Mom trundles along on a rubber-socket reinforced cane. "The doctor says you'll...

UNITED STATES—Does the heat seem to have come on suddenly this year? There was all that rain through winter, then a quick but delightful spring, and now it is suddenly over a hundred degrees in some places! What happened?! There is certainly nothing abnormal about such warmth in the middle of June. It just comes as a surprise when...

UNITED STATES—"The silence filtered through charcoal silence. I want to let it all out..." "Well this forced the issue, something like the fall had to happen. And now it's bringing everything out into the open." "Like the fact that you're an embezzler...? Davy glares at her. "Can't you tell when I'm kidding?" "Freud said there are no jokes." "That may be true. Have you ever...

UNITED STATES—Vines in the wild are downright exploitative. They do not support their own weight, so instead climb or sprawl over shrubbery and trees. Some are satisfied staying down below the canopy of the hosts who support them, as if aware that a healthy host will support them for a good long time. Many vines climb aggressively to the...

UNITED STATES—"You know I figure I owe mom about twenty thousand dollars over twelve years." "You carry that around?" Karen says. "I do," says Davy. "Somebody told me not to worry. That whenever a mother gives something, they never expect it to be paid back. It was comfort at the time." "You were comforted." "And it was the beginning in Los Angeles, my...

UNITED STATES—April showers bring May flowers. May flowers make a mess. Well, some of them do. Most simply disintegrate and fall from the trees, shrubs and vines that produced them, and decompose into the soil below. Some might have needed to be swept off of pavement and decks. Regardless, most of us do not notice the very minor consequences...

UNITED STATES—"Oh, look! She signed the check!" Davy says. "There's hope," Karen says. Hope that she gets on the anti-anxiety meds and it dissolves her resistance to therapy, and getting out of bed." "She's gotten out of bed already a lot. When you're 90." "You're such an apologist for her," Karen speaks. "You can't touch me with your evil, logical yet hopeful eye,...

UNITED STATES—It sounds like science fiction, but it is not. Every spring and during particular summer weather, limbs can fall from trees without warning, and seemingly for no reason at all. It happens when least expected, while the weather is warm and perhaps humid, but notably without wind. The lack of wind is what makes it so unexpected. It...

UNITED STATES—"Hello, this is the son of Betty Bird, and we'd like Dr. O'Leary to prescribe anti-anxiety medication for our Mom, Betty Bird, here at Wastonville Manor." Davy hangs up his phone with a sigh. "They're out to lunch, I left a message." "Yeah, yeah, I could tell," says Karen. "I can tell when it's your message voice." "The doctor's are out for...

UNITED STATES—Annuals are plants that complete their entire life cycle from germination to death within a single year. Biennials complete their entire life cycle in two years, mostly by developing vegetative growth during their first year, and then blooming, producing seed and then dying after their second year. Perennials are the many herbaceous plants that survive longer than just...