WITH MINUTES TO GO before guests arrived for a recent garden party to celebrate my eldest daughter’s doctorate, I surveyed the scene with satisfaction. Long banquet tables basked in the California sun, draped in white linen and set with my mother’s blue china. With the calm of a professional party planner, I gently straightened a tablecloth hem—just one inch. “That pear tree looks dangerous looming over the table,” said my youngest daughter, Clementine, who was putting out place cards. She pointed to a gnarled, ancient...

Source: Wall Street Journal September 26, 2018 16:07 UTC