Alex and I were visiting his mother in Washington D.C., and on July 31st, we watched a black swallowtail butterfly flutter into her garden and deposit eggs on a dill plant. We brought three eggs back to Boston, and they all hatched the morning of August 6th. The caterpillars have since quadrupled in size (while […]

My next door neighbors were cat-sitting “Mr. Buckman” for their friend, who rescued this big tiger-striped tom from the rough streets of Dorchester, Massachusetts. My neighbors feared for the safety of their little white deaf cat Piper because Mr. Buckman could squash her, so I offered to watch him temporarily. Once I got over my […]

Turning this eyesore of a patio into a Japanese zen garden. I’ve got my work cut out for me!

I got to watch Piper the deaf, odd-eyed cat, for a week.

I’ve been trying since last summer to get this patio door. It took several months for Home Depot to order a door – which turned out to the the wrong size. By the time they got the right size of door, it was the brutal winter. Finally, on a nice April day, the contractors – […]