Merlin’s favorite times of the year are the fall and spring, simply because that’s when windows can be open and he can watch (and smell) the birds and squirrels that he’d like to be outside chasing. Here, he peers intently at the back yard through the open window right next to my desk earlier this week. Merlin is the one who disappeared for a couple of days after an escape through a screen about two years ago. He doesn’t seem to eager to leave the comforts of home behind after that adventure.

Not voting makes a statement: ‘You don’t have my moral consent’
I want my children surrounded by tools of creation, not consumption
Why do so many of us stay where we know we’ll remain miserable?
The love we give abandoned animals can actually rescue us