Black flag on the lawn falls in pieces from the sky. Starlings in command. Donal Mahoney

I like to watch master chefs on television do their thing. My favorite is Jacques Pépin when he has to chop an onion. No one chops an onion faster.

It’s your anniversary so you’re thinking steak but your wife wants ramen so you go to a nice place and order the fancy ramen

Tea in the afternoon with his wife of many years is usually peaceful, Hubert thinks before he makes his announcement. Then he says it. “I’m going upstairs,” Hubert tells Ruth as he hois...

Faye gives Fred next door her sister’s number to call in case Faye dies. Faye’s 94 and feels okay. Her sister’s 90 and Fred’s

After the Inauguration, perhaps he will take his family on vacatio… Hawaii’s an oasis during the winte… But in time he’ll watch for someth… that will challenge his skill set.

If America is lucky it might still happen. That lawsuit about the university accused of bilking students might go to trial and the accused

Every once in awhile over the last 40 years Ralph wondered what might have happened to the guy who had moved in with the mother

Millicent was the daughter who danced ballet and sang until she met Butchie on a rainy day. He was in coveralls and cowboy hat and fixed

No red kettles and bells this December outside the stores at the mall in our suburbs this year. They irritate shoppers,

The late Justice Scalia, a strict conservative on the Supreme Court, would have voted in favor of prayer

An article in the paper reports something one doesn’t see happen in America very often. Eighty billionaires, millionaires and others close to that level