A biography about Maria Callas, written by Ariana Stassinopoulos, and, titled, appropriately enough, Maria Callas, The Woman Behind the Legend, had been staring at me for some time and, so two weeks ago, I started reading.

Written in 1981, the book is actually two biographies in one: one about Maria, the peasant Greek girl born in 1923 in New York City (her mom was pregnant on the voyage from Europe to America); the other of Callas, the diva who brought artistic drama to new heights with...

The long good-bye was how a relative had referred to her passing. She would have been 93 this summer and I thought that it had not been that long ago when I sat with her on the porch of the assisted living residence where she was staying.

But it was a while ago, probably four years or so, when we looked out at the Long Island Sound waves that were breaking softly on the beach just across the road. We talked about our families, about the coolness in the air, about some of our favorite...

May I be as good a person as my dog thinks I am is one of my favorite quotes.  I’m currently dogless, but have had the great pleasure of dog sitting for a friend’s parents, who are vacationing in Spain.  I’m in Falmouth, Mass., on Cape Cod, and would venture to say that I’ve got the better of the deal.

Nothing against Spain but Buddy, my four-legged companion, is a special sort.  I will truly miss him when it comes time to say good-bye, and am already contemplating arranging vacations for...

It happens almost the same time every year in spite of what the weather has wrought – warmer than usual temperatures or frigid cold – in the preceding months. This year was no different.

And so I jumped into Walden Pond this week for my first swim of the season. I carry in my car a thermometer, which I use to check the water of Walden or, on occasion, a trout stream that I’m contemplating. When I dipped it into the pond it read in the mid-60s, and though not entirely reliable, I deemed...

I treasure the chance intersections of life when disparate entities meet and leave you with a moment and a memory that prompt intriguing questions.

I’ve been reading a fascinating book by Tim Flannery titled The Eternal Frontier. Subtitled An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples, it provides an illuminating and thought-provoking account of what happened on the North American continent 65 million years ago when a giant meteor smashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

I was...