Several years ago, inspired by Marcel Proust, I chose some books for my bedside table to read before going to sleep. I thought they would inspire me. But they went untouched for months, and when I noticed them, I felt guilty and embarrassed that I wasn’t reading them.…

The appointment with the cardiologist was for an echocardiogram he needed before taking me off a beta blocker that was causing asthma attacks. He is a fey, lanky man with wild white hair and looks scarily like Christopher Lloyd in “Back to the Future.” He sat beside me,…

Opening the shutters one autumn morning, I saw large flocks of great white egrets landing in the field across the road, next to the stonewalled cemetery. They come every year to feed in our rich pastures before flying south to the Mediterranean and Africa. This year they arrived…