Since the time change a few weeks ago, I often sit and gaze out my window after dinner, letting the new light wash over me. Memories wash over, too, of being a kid on long ago April evenings after the days just got longer. The air smelled of spring, earthy and fresh, as after dinner we neighborhood kids— Dickie Hanshew, Jackie Renner and me — scrambled down the alley behind our houses, playing tag, riding bikes, chasing each other. Alleys held just the right mix of safety and mystery: the mystery of secrets glimpsed in garages and trash cans, the [...]

Recently, I read an interview with a well-known author, a woman in her late 50s, who joked that she wants to launch a private-eye business staffed by women her age and older. Older women in our culture are invisible, the author said, so they would make perfect spies. Her comment made me laugh. It also, after a recent cross-country train trip, made me wince a little. That trip was my first experience with feeling unseen. Mostly, I love riding Amtrak. I love feeling time moving slowly, spending hours watching as Montana rolls by, settling deeply into a novel. I love [...]