One early spring morning in Wisconsin, a luna moth pupa wiggles. It had spent all winter camouflaged in the leaf litter and its ability to wiggle scared off several predators, including several mice. Now that its metamorphosis is complete, the…
My five and seven-year-old grandsons take me out for a paddle boat ride on our cabin’s northern Wisconsin lake. The five-year-old spies a neighbor’s blown-up orange and yellow plastic raft that is also a trampoline. “Can we bounce on that?”…
“The tooth must be extracted,” my dentist said, “and because of how the roots are way up in the sinuses and its location, it will be complicated. I’m referring you to the oral surgeon.” I was in pain and when…
Celebrating Small Things in a Great Way “If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way. Don’t wait for great opportunities. Seize common, everyday ones.” Self-help author Napolean Hill My daughter calls me from our northern…
You know those complicated relationships where you can both admire and detest someone? Feel anger but also sympathy; sadness but also amusement? I have one of those roller coaster relationships with the fox. As a youngster, I hunted rabbits with…
It happened four years ago when my husband and I decided to celebrate our anniversary by whitewater rafting in the Menominee River. “Dig in!” The command came from James, our whitewater rafting guide. Our inflatable rubber boat was nearing Hell’s…
Holidays such as Memorial Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be sad ones for those of us who have lost our grandparents and parents. If you have siblings, it can help to talk to them. My brother Jeff and…
We’re at the brink of summer, and I fear in September we’ll lament, “It went so fast.” If only we could slow down time. But how do we slow down time? Researchers have found these four things help: have new…
“Disney World is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced,” friends told my husband and me at dinner one night. “You have to go.” We met with our travel agent. “It seems strange to go to Disney without kids,” I said. “Get…
I was anxious to return to our cabin that August three years ago to check on Doc, the mallard, and Gertie, the orphaned goose we’d raised. Get a grip, I told myself during the long ride. Gertie is only a…
