River Muse

Sven

The Volvo died on Easter Sunday. It was good enough to do so in the driveway, ending with a cough, then silence, accompanied only by a lighted dashboard and cool air blowing from the vents, signaling …

If we ran the government like a business

There’s so much talk about government efficiency right now, without much real attention to the meaning of the word. Merriam-Webster defines efficiency as “productive of …

Letter to Dad, never sent

Dear Bob, I have missed you for so long I can almost forget the times I knew you. But not quite. There was a time in Pittsburgh when you and Jane and Chris and I were crossing a street together. …

Winter meltdown

It’s minus four degrees and I’m going to pick up my granddaughter from her mother, who lives 10 miles upriver. I have been advised today is a “No” day. This means every …

Too great a burden

Workers in white Tyvek suits cluster along the Narrowsburg bridge as I write this. A large yellow truck moves deliberately across the span. A long extending arm allows inspection of the …

Sailing

I hadn’t been sailing in more than 30 years, since my youngest child was born. Experience has taught me that you take your life in your hands out on the ocean. But we were on Block Island and …

‘And the greatest of those is love’