Aging and Gardening Aging and gardening are still two of my favorite writing prompts; an autumns-garden may still teach life lessons worth sharing. In an actual garden past its prime, lots of plants, shrubs and flowers need cutting back, or uprooting. In our...
A remembrance, a memoir and a collection of eulogies have kept me company on the porch while I paint, reminding me to stay teachable. A Remembrance In a remembrance, David Brooks wrote on Frederick Buechner’s life: Buechner’s books tell stories, let you experience...
In an article on prayer, Heather Thompson Day, summed up how my prayers can feel most days: . . . I still wasn’t sure if I was talking to God or arguing with myself . . .(Teach Us to Pray) Faith in an infinite and personal God has never been the most popular of...
What in the World Happened? When you look at my unbreakable glass, you have to wonder what happened to shatter it so. How many times did I drop it before its innards splintered? In some ways, there is a kind of beauty – and symmetry. Doug thinks with the cracks it...
Virtual Learning and the Lessons I learned in 2020: Two recurring lessons from 2020 will carry over into 2021: Learn to live with disappointment – gratefully You have a lot left to learn, princess! The trick has been to stay teachable, because I am seasoned citizen....
Eleven years ago, I “published” my first blog piece. I began it after four years into an unanticipated relocation, from “the Free state,” to the Lone-Star state. The organizing principle was gardening, tethered to a favorite quote from a favorite actor: “If you have...
Current events –a.k.a. 2020’s pandemic and possible economic collapse -- bring to mind a triple play of experiences, plus a grad slam that shook me up way back when. In the late 1980’s, we had started a new business, decided to educate our kids at home, and welcomed...
Finally, one of my paintings reflects how I can feel throughout these strange and wonderful times through which we are living: PANIC. In this pandemic, I feel like one of those exposed goldfish, sensing danger was lurking yet knowing nowhere to hide. The virus is...
I wonder: If thousands of North Americans, including women and children, formed a caravan, broke through an armed border guard, and walked across Mexico to Guatemala, turning down offers of sanctuary and expecting to be admitted into Guatemala, how would the news...
Sticking my fingers in my ears and making noises to drown out unpleasant, scary and confusing news is so tempting. I can’t decide if that is more stupid than the news of current events that keeps cascading into my life. Why have I been consumed with finding out what...
Winter Didn't Win! Spring awakens life in our gardens from what looks like death. Splashes of pink, white, and purple bud from seemingly lifeless limbs, highlighting deepening soft hues of green; forgotten fragrances waft by. Even if days are gray and showery in...
Asking God to Help Me Believe What I Have Seen for So Long Perhaps reconsidering a familiar visual, the crèche, was what I needed; although it is instantly recognizable to many of us, it is a seemingly impossible reality, and harder to explain -- embrace – in these...
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