Home is Where the Views Are

Home is Where the Views Are

I can’t remember when I decided I would retire to North Carolina. The idea came on gradually. Maybe it was after I spent that month in the Tennessee cabin writing the first draft of The Kimono Tattoo. It was only a month, but I felt such an affinity for the hillsides...
Southern Accents

Southern Accents

My sister has two voices. I noticed this yesterday when we were in town. She has a voice for people she doesn’t know and another for her family. Her outside voice goes up an octave and softens. She smiles a lot in her outside voice and sounds friendly and inviting....
 From There

 From There

I have a friend from Summit, New Jersey. She left when she was fifteen. Her parents moved to Raleigh, North Carolina for work, and that’s where I met her. She’s since lived in Washington, D.C., California, and now Virginia Beach, Virginia. She’s never returned to live...
Autumn is for Parting

Autumn is for Parting

The trees were brilliant just a few days ago, their branches a shimmer of scarlet and amber.  As I set out for my morning run, I notice they have grown more subdued. The scarlet has faded to russet. I hold out my hand and catch an ocher leaf as it plummets...