Walking with my dog on an East End beach one breezy, overcast afternoon, I encountered two young men engaged in a photo shoot, complete with props, just above the tide […]
The Year-Rounder
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Matters of the Mind and Body
Can they remain in sync into old age?
Last night a young friend (almost 27) said to me, “I am an old soul.” Those words got me thinking. Not about the soul — God help me from ever […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Saving Land
The task is huge, and we are small
Somewhere in my disheveled archives sits a tattered yellow news clipping from the New York Times, circa 1980, that was pinned to the bulletin board over my desk for decades. […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Where Does the Eagle Fly — and Why?
How we spend our free time defines who we are
We were out at Race Point, looking over the flocks of shorebirds, terns, and gulls on the beach, when suddenly the mass of them rose into the air in their […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Too Late for Tea?
Provincetown is more than a gay resort, Hannah
As if Provincetown needed any promotion going into August, the New Yorker magazine published a short profile of the town by Hannah Goldfield, titled “Beach Boys,” in its July 29 […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
The Recyclable Life Force: An Unformed Idea
What is it like to be a slug or a vulture?
Walking on the East End beach at low tide with my 11-year old granddaughter, I pointed out the rivulets of groundwater streaming onto the flats. All the water in the […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Truro: It’s Not Provincetown
Taking stock of the best that each town has to offer
Lately I have been trying to imagine what it’s like to live in Truro. Really, I have no idea. Although I have been next door, in Provincetown, going on 60 […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Lawrence of the Dunes
Remembering a man who lived life on his own terms
I imagine Lawrence Schuster as a child in 1950s Pennsylvania being asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and answering, with steely blue eyes and a […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Ancestors and Descendants
Shadows of the past and our unknowable future
My father was born near the end of the 19th century (1897); I arrived near the middle of the 20th (1945); my four grandchildren, early in the 21st (between 2005 […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Living in Three Dimensions
We drive cars, fly in planes, and mostly live indoors
On the way to the beach, I passed a trellis festooned — indeed, overpowered — by English Ivy. Let’s call it a hedge. I had to stop, because emanating from […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Celebrating Stormy
There is more than one path to a life well lived
Last Friday night I joined a crowd in Provincetown’s beautiful town hall to celebrate the life and career of Charles “Stormy” Mayo III. With all those who were there, I […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Unthinkable Thoughts
Facing our own finitude takes courage
Some things are difficult to think about. The difficulty could lie in their complexity. I can’t wrap my brain around quantum mechanics, black holes, or the Electoral College. But other […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
New Bird in Town
The ravens are back, and they are building a nest
We are more than halfway through April, and the air is already full of birdsong. It seems every other bush in town hosts a song sparrow, lustily bellowing his qualifications […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Waiting for the Tody
A little Puerto Rican bird that expanded my world
I fell in love with the little bird long before I saw it. Maybe it was the name. I was on a plane to Puerto Rico, studying the Princeton Guide […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Taking Inventory
An adventure in living-room archaeology
I was amused to hear recently that archeologists had unearthed some salacious graffiti in Pompeii. I am not sure why this gladdens my heart so much, but it does. It […]
