One of my delights in December is reading booklists compiled by readers of their favorite books from this year of reading. I’ve read Emily P. Freeman’s and Lore Wilbert’s and Anne Bogel’s and other lists from bookstore newsletters, Insta accounts, and Substack. It’s fun to see the same titles popping up on numerous lists. Particularly […]
Beautiful Word Coloring Bible Giveaway
A few months have rolled by since my fingers have tapped the keyboard in this space. I’m stuck in September and swiveling my head on the off-chance I can catch where October danced away too, leaving November hanging on my calendar. This is often the rhythm and song of life and time. I’m delighted to […]
A Roll of the Dice or a Flip of the Spinner
Life feels an awfulot like a game of Monopoly And I am often waiting for someone to tell me it is my turn And I will roll snake eyes and creepy-crawl Towards Go Hoping to pass it this time Collect two hundred But roll it three times consecutively And I will go directly TO JAIL […]
Thoughts on Humility
Humility is a habit. I hear Malcolm Gladwell say this in a podcast interview. The statement sticks, and I keep musing on it. Turning it this way and that. Observing it. Considering it.I’ve long considered humility the virtue most difficult to attain.This simplifies it. Sums it up. Renders it achievable. Do I believe this to […]
All the Reasons I Love Grocery Pickup
All the Reasons I Love Grocery Pickup Let me count the ways…. Change can recalibrate, reorient, refresh. Change can redeem time.
On June…
I need a reset, a boost, a motivation for my writing life.Perhaps, you??I sit at my desk on Saturday, the last day of May as we count time, a few hours remain. I scratch out a few notes, scrawl a list. And then another.My brain is intrigued. I jot a question. Make a short list […]
What I’ve Been Meaning To Tell You Is…
As April disappears into May and May is about to disappear into June, what I’ve been meaning to tell you is….well, so many things. Sundry items, favorite brands, listening and reading, contemplating and musing. Part what’s-saving-my-life-right-now, part things I-think-more-of-us-should-pay-attention-to, part delightful life. My rosebushes have bloomed gloriously this month and they are such a source […]
If You Start A Book Club….
If you start a book club and if you meet once a month, every month for almost three years, and if you have a book society retreat in the nearby city for a long weekend in January of 2023 and again in March of 2024, then you might find your book clerisy in February of […]
On Reading And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer
The fire crackles in the soapstone. The pomegranate and pine candle flickers, enswathed in heavy green patterned glass. Lamplight glows warm on the north wall where we laid brick last Saturday. Of course, by we, I mean my good farmer man, our son, and my brother.I curl into the curve of the couch, dig my […]
Books I Read in 2024 and Found To Be Delightful
January dances away on the calendar as I sit and type this. We’ve had snow and ice and snow again and cold temperatures to go with it all. I haven’t minded. Granted, I’ve been able to stay inside my warm and cozy house during most of it, thus not so much to mind. It has […]
A Reflection on What Worked For Me in 2024
I like making lists. I like reading lists. I’ve followed a practice for a number of years held by the Modern Mrs. Darcy and Emily P. Freeman. They ask the questions “What worked for me?” “What didn’t?” Today, I’m pecking away at my keyboard to join in on this reflection. Another variation to consider in […]
Of Christmas Past, Of Christmas Present, & Of Christmas Future
Christmas Present The flame hisses to life when I hold the flickering match to its base. The light shines through the green glass of the pine-scented candle. I shake the match, run it under a quick stream of cold water. It sits, black and burnt, reduced to quiet. I toss it into the trash receptacle […]
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Amazon Giftcard Giveaway
I laughed.I cried.It exceeded my expectations. Years ago, my aunt introduced us to the horrible Herdmans and the Best Christmas Pageant Ever. She lent us the book and the next year we watched the 1983 film adaptation. When the email landed in my inbox a month or so ago with an invitation to preview this […]
I Will Hold You in the Light
I will hold you in the light. I will hold you in the light.YOU.Who feels hollowed, you who feels as if wholeness was long ago swallowed and the only hallowed ground around you is littered with broken dreams and empty explanations of what might have been, what could have been, what should have been. The […]
September’s Bidding
September asks me to slowTo savor skies and sunsetsSip coffee and soak in sunshine September says “Let’s open our palms and listen closer,Let’s open windows and waft in the first refresh of the next season, Let’s sit in the soft sixties dawn and not reach for a sweater quite yet. September appreciates presence and creates […]
On Significance and Purpose
In-the-moment often doesn’t reveal the importance of-the-moment. In-the-moment seldom gazes directly in our eyes or points out the progress or reassures us this is our next best thing. In-the-moment rarely offers significance a seat. It’s after-the-moment who often motions backward where on the distance shore significance waves shyly and our souls gasp with the wonder […]
Let the Boat Rock
A world forever changing….yet some things hold steady…. Let the boat rock. The waves are gonna crash. Markets boast bullish, then belly back bearish.The loan comes due. The crisis isn’t averted. The promotion bypasses in entirety.Cherries get lost in the mail and children get lost at the mall and we all get lost sometimes. We […]