We have a very tiny county fair in our very tiny county. But my husband and I go each year to “renew our marriage license…” You see, our first date had a kiss at the top of the Ferris Wheel at the Dutchess County Fair some twenty-two years ago. So…

It’s Saturday, and I walk in the door of the Sap Bush Cafe — the little open-one-day-a-week place run by my farmer friends who are my Family of Choice. Quick hugs to my nieces-by-affection, Saoirse and Ula, and a chat with their mother Shannon. …

This morning I read one of what seems like a thousand arguments, comparing diets (vegetarian vs. Keto). This was after I saw flamethrowing parties regarding whether The Orville was better than Strange New Worlds, whose boyfriend was nastier in the breakups being discussed, and whose Tiktok videos (dance vs. …

A client came to me, very upset with her life choices: I want to get out of a mediocre life, but have constant fear of failure, always feel low as well as unhappy. I was raised by my grandparents. I wanted to be a doctor but they told me I…

Ballast was originally a nautical term for heavy material carried in the hold of a ship, especially if the ship had no cargo. Later, it spoke of weight placed in hot-air balloons, to give them increased stability. And now? It means anything that serves no purpose except to weigh down…

Feral cats — they’re everywhere. They are animals who were perhaps born in the wild, or abandoned. They are used to being kicked, starved, chased. They are used to sleeping with one eye open for danger. The know that the law of the jungle is also the law of the…

Not all my stories are about the Coming of the Dark. Sometimes, we’re given a moment of beauty that reminds us that Nature continues to gift us, if we pay attention. As I pulled out of the parking lot of the Price Chopper today, a tiny butterfly, about the size…

All my life, when I have loved something, I have REEEALLY loved it. Whether it was Star Trek and the Beatles (my first decade), English History and the Wars of the Roses (my second), Medieval and Renaissance re-enactment (my third), Elfquest and the Philadelphia rock band The Hooters (my fourth)…

There is a great deal of buzz about coming down to the times of Change, the End Times, the Death of the America we know, and more. Whether or not we are in line for forced birthing camps, military law, terrorist attacks, the need to flee the United States —…