Sassafras Mama

For most of my adolescence, I loved to read historical fiction.   I consumed books about Eleanor of Aquitaine and Queen Elizabeth and read t...

I first came to admire magnolia trees and their velvety blooms when I lived in Nashville.   The trees were abundant in the area, tall and fu...

The backstory:   We’ve had some heavy rains in the last few days and, like many gardeners, I’ve been glad to see the storms.   Naturally, I ...

At the inclusion of the memorial service for my dad, we invited everyone to join us for Sunday dinner, which was one of my dad’s favorite tr...

When I first began teaching 8th grade Civics, the Summer reading assignment was an Annette Gordon Reed essay on Juneteenth and its history a...

I’m a fan of Eric Clapton — I know, I know…but the music is so damn good — and this morning “Bad Love” came on my playlist.   It’s a song I’...

Since my dad’s passing in February, I’ve made it a daily habit to thank the universe for something good before I tuck in and fall asleep fo...

The Backstory: My Dad passed away in February.  Later today, we'll have a celebration of his life and this is the obituary that my siste...

I am a big fan of doing the little things that make life objectively nicer.   There are plenty of examples of this habit of mine, but none s...

It’s the last day of the school year.   There’s plenty to celebrate, of course, but damn if this hasn’t been a hell of a hard school year fo...