Bagpipes, the ultimate in balky reed instruments, are traditional throughout the world. My favorite are the Irish Uilleann pipes, or Irish pipes, which are the kind of pipes my friend Mike is playing in the painting above. And not surprisingly, today is also International Uilleann Bagpipe day, named by the Na Píobairí Uilleann society that celebrates all things about the iconic Irish instrument.

I’ve been dreaming about this image for awhile, inspired by an old photograph I found in my grandmother’s box of family ephemera. I don’t know who the girl is, or what she is doing. But she seems to be doing something, a thing at which I want her to succeed. I feel a purpose and a power in this image, a story that’s common to many women, although I don’t know what that story might be.

When it’s cold out, or you’re busy, or you’re ill, or you’re running late, it’s hard to get outside for some “nature therapy.” This 9-step plan can calm you, let you de-stress, and connect you with the earth.

Then suddenly there was barking of foxes all around, as if a chorus line of animals were running through the dark. The sound echoed and chuffed; amplified, it filled the spaces between the houses with reverberations as dusty and crisp as old lace.