June 3-4 weekend was an example of a perfect family event for this Grandmother. Of course, I hope and believe that everyone had a lot of fun at my grandson’s wedding to his fiancé. But none of them could have enjoyed it any more than I did. The weather was spectacular—cool evenings and not too hot or humid in the daytime. The sun was bright, the air fresh and fragrant, the grass green and shrubbery lush due to a great…
I am smiling as I write this because I know the ending to this part of Serenas’ story. It had been ten days since my dog, Serena went missing. Ten days with no word at all, made me assume she was dead, gone for good. After all, I had contacted everyone I could think of. I went door to door to the neighbors, begging for information. They all understood how much it meant to me. We had contacted the local…
One Christmas many years ago, our children surprised me with an unexpected gift. They told me they had a present for me but I had to wait in the living room, while they went to get it. They were giggling and acting very pleased with themselves. With much whispering and fanfare, they brought a rather unwieldy-looking tan-colored cardboard box adorned with a red ribbon on top. When I opened the large badly shaped box I was shocked. There, inside, was…
Our kids grew up in a wonderland, at least it seems that way in retrospect. Now, like Camelot, it has disappeared. All that remains is a memory. But it colors all of our lives and enriches them. It was, in fact, our life at one time. We lived it large. We enjoyed it ‘in the moment’ for the most part. Even then, I think we knew it would soon be gone forever. Though we could never have imagined the world…
When you abandon freedom to achieve security, you lose both and deserve neither.Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Franklin said similarly: Those who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Freedom of speech is the liberty I hold dearest, but speech is being censored day in and day out everywhere. If an organization is not censoring them, many people self censor. They are careful what they say for fear of people or institutions demanding…
I have so many photos of foxes, it is fun to share them with my readers. The featured image was taken by my daughter Helen. One of the joys of spring is the site of newborn animals and their mothers. Watching females feeding their young is special. From foals and calves in fields by the road to more hidden animals like foxes, opossums, groundhogs, rabbits, ducks, and geese, spring is the time of rebirth. It brings forth new life, and…
The mask mandates have been lifted on planes and all sorts of other places. Thank goodness! Yet there are some out there still demanding to resurrect the mandates. It baffled me right from the start how people could have fallen for the mask mandate. It was easy to prove masks were ineffective and not worth wearing. Furthermore, wearing a mask was like wearing a sign saying, “I am compliant, I do what I am told.” It was also horrifying to…
A treasure trove of information! The little book brings back a time in my life and old friends who are all gone, now. It was a Guestbook for people to sign when they came to the embassy for a party or even just to visit. And along with my mother’s diary for that period and my own, it paints a picture of our lives that first year in Luxembourg. The book was a pale nut brown leather rectangle wedged between…
How do you feel about change? The world we all inhabit has changed dramatically since I was a girl.There were a lot more rules of etiquette, manners mattered, and going to church was a virtue. People were addressed as Mr. and Mrs. or Miss, no first names until later, and there was a lot less swearing. There were general fears about war, even epidemics, but no one closed down countries as a result. Skirts used to be a certain length….
The other day I posted a photo of myself on horseback So many people commented on that photo or simply ‘liked’ it, that I took a second look. I posted it originally because it is sometimes enjoyable for me to see how I looked in those days with a trim figure and youthful features. Life was good. But there is more to that photo than just me. Foxhunting is a sport that requires guts. When I began seriously hunting in…
Being given the privilege of living in a place that gives you energy and good vibes every day is the best. Houses have personalities, and property exudes atmosphere and vibrations we may not always recognize. We just get a sense of a place. It can be intense. The property where I live now is wonderful. The rolling hills of Virginia are personified right here. It starts as you enter the driveway shared by a couple of other houses, that goes…
Being a woman is the best. We are so lucky. We have all the advantages and always have. Men want us and need us and protect us and basically revere us. What’s not to like about that? We have such advantages! We don’t have to go down into the basement to discover what “that sound” was! For many everyday scary things men will show us their bravery. It is they who get the snake out of the house, get rid…
The dog fight! This is the story of why we had to make the above rule in our house. I was standing in the sunny kitchen with Susie. The morning was bright, soft, and warm for November. Standing on the reddish-brown tiles of the floor we watched several of the dogs frolicking outside the French doors. Susie was holding her adorable baby girl. Helen was a little over 6 months old. As the big dogs belonging to Susie and Murdoch…
Once upon a time, the Orange County Hunt met on Opening Day at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Furness, Waverly, in The Plains Virginia. The Washington Post covered the elegant event in the section that used to be called For and About Women Looking at all of the color photographs, 55 years later, I was shocked to realize I knew every single person in those pictures. This happened when looking through old boxes of memorabilia. We found this…
Looking back on 80 years of life is sobering. For some time now, I have been trying to organize my files, label things and throw out things no one cares about. In the process I have found amazing items I thought were lost forever. I have found things that hurt my heart to see or read about. Then there are the things that bring such joy and fulfillment that it is thick in the air around me. But it can…
