Making Lemonade

The cut grass had been sitting there on the lawn long enough to dry, like a kind of hay. We were gathered between the stream and the enormous spruce which sometimes served as our secret hideout: my best friend, her sisters, and I. “Let’s make birds’ nests,” I said. I was the [...]

When I was growing up, our house was mere blocks from the main street of our little town. The main street, itself stretching only a few blocks from the factory to the high school, was messily bisected by a railroad crossing. That crossing was a prime reason we kids learned train safety before [...]