This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. The Amazon-owned Washington Post recently reported on a poll by The Economist/YouGov on people’s reading habits. Forty-six percent of people living in the United States read no books last year. Just five percent read one book. This book reading rate was about the same as when I began my … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. From where I sit, the view has changed. The windows which once offered views of my neighbors’ houses are now filled with nothing but green. The elms, oaks, and cherry trees have leafed out, giving a false appearance that summer has arrived. However, the temperatures in Maryland are … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. The songs are playing day and night. Some of them are tentative, while others blow the dust off the steep wooden staircase. My son is home from college for the winter holidays and nestled in his third floor bedroom with all his electric guitars—and the amplifiers. The improvisations … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. This is not a post about death. It is about the phenomenon of Pandemic Bucket Lists. In the Before Times, my family and I commuted to work and spent long hours on errands and other activities outside our house. When our state locked down in April, I was … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. “The best part of the present house is the veranda,” the U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes journaled in 1873. “But I would enlarge it. I want a veranda with a house attached.” I share the late president’s opinion. A wooden veranda measuring over 100 feet wraps four … Read more
The other weekend, I was cranky and knew I needed a temporary getaway from my family. So I got in the car on a hot July morning and drove south to DC, savoring Saturday’s lack of traffic. Ever since I moved back to the Mid-Atlantic, I’ve longed to tour Hillwood, the 1920s Georgian mansion of … Read more