“For me, a well-spent summer has always been defined by two activities: working in the garden and feeling stressed because I know I should be working in the garden.”

“In a spectacular display of hubris—also known as What Not to Do When You Have a Sore Back—I decided to muck out the pigpen.”

“Like most cats, when Lily gets a mouse, she bats it about with glee, stopping now and then to grin and twirl her whiskers instead of dispatching it quickly.”

“Have you ever seen an artist’s rendering of a mammoth trying to extricate itself from a tar pit? It looked kind of like that. Also, I was squealing.”

“Cash, on the other hand, is real, finite and very hard for me to part with. Separating a $20 bill from my fingers is a job for a cashier with a soothing voice and a rock climber’s grip strength.”

“If you were in the theater for the Sunday matinee, you might have heard me, about halfway back on the left side, sniffling and wailing softly while dabbing at my cheeks with a piece of popcorn.”