All The Home Forum
- How Mom confounded the phone man
He wanted to pay her. She resisted.
- On the front lines of the migrant crisis
I saw tragedy in the Mediterranean, yes, but also compassion.
- Marmalade worthy of Paddington Bear
The real stuff is rare, but the work of making it yourself is rewarding.
- Going postal at Christmas
The machine clicked loudly, telegraphing any signs of hesitation to all in the crowded lobby.
- Life lessons from a rat
Catching the rat was amazing. But then it got even more astonishing.
- My daughter’s ‘Friends’
I savored the ’90s sitcom for a decade. For her, it’s fast-forward.
- Just right for one cook
Mom ran her kitchen with an efficiency that the military would envy.
- There are leaf-rakers and leaf-blowers ...
... and I’d been ‘rake only’ for years. Then desperation set me on a new path.
- A captain finds a new crew
My husband heard a new career beckon – with a buzzing noise.
- Lessons from the lawn
The men who’ve tended my yard and garden have also helped me grow.
- Bring back the phone booth
It used to be that a phone call was for two people – and two people alone.
- Music and the lesson of love
My sister and I both played instruments. I had talent. But she had something more.
- Shades that shimmer, hues that cry
When it came time to paint the house, we pulled out all the stops.
- How Mom found me
I was lost, and she was 1,500 miles away. But all it took was one word.
- Why I’m still drawn by trains
They’re a lullaby, a punctuation, a (mostly) relaxed way to travel.
- Our barn and Beethoven
Designed to hold livestock, it has now done everything but.
- My cultural collisions with Botswana
The encounters were cosmic, comic, compassionate, and life-changing.
- I traveled on trust and couches
Who’d let a stranger stay with them? A lot of people, it turned out.
- My island reckoning
The biggest challenge, for me, was to preserve my self-esteem.
- The indoor wilds at outdoor parks
I got used to sharing space with critters – up to a point.