Hi Friends! and Happy 2019! While it is already January 3rd, we are not quite through the holidays at our house: my parents are still with us, and so I refuse to return to normal life. But I thought I’d throw a little something out on this here website of mine, something that reflects where […]
Read more
Advent, the four weeks in the church calendar leading to Christmas Day, begins on Sunday, December 2 this year. I’ve written four reflections, one for each week of Advent, to help us consider how we might respond to the birth of Jesus. Click here to download the readings, and may new understanding of the Christ-child […]
Read more
Our backyard maples are skeletal now. It happened in that sudden way that means I haven’t been paying attention. I know they flushed to gold about two weeks ago. Emma called me to the window, and we stared at them together for a minute. They can seem incandescent in those early yellow days, like […]
Read more
We arrive relieved and a little breathless from the din. We almost didn’t find it; I had considered giving up. But there it is on 6th Street, just past the tortilla place. Here is something different from the rest of Las Vegas: low ceiling, warm light, a host who enjoys the word “patio.” He invites […]
Read more
Ta-da! Welcome to my Brand New Website. In fact, if you have read this far, then you have likely already arrived and are seeing it in its brand-new glory, with its lovely fonts and clean pages. And photos. Ever so many photos. Of me. (More on that shortly).
Read more
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and with that one is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. -Annie Dillard It’s happening again. It started in late May, and it […]
Read more
Day four, and I’m still sore. Not bragging. Not complaining. Just saying. We are four days out from the workout known as Murph, and I am still sore. What is Murph, you say? Murph is a workout named for Michael Patrick Murphy, a navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan in 2005. He was awarded the Medal […]
Read more
So, maybe you’ve heard it said that writing a book is like giving birth, and publishing it is like sending one’s child out into the world. I have said that, and so have scores of others (although this one disagrees and makes some excellent points while she’s at it). The comparison works less for the degree […]
Read more
From the Willow Room in the Prince Conference Center at Calvin College, one can see willow trees. They stand at some distance from the building, at least one hundred yards away, and during the lecture on self-editing a manuscript, I watched these trees. They were huge. Their branches were many. And all of these branches–those […]
Read more
Weekdays, I can count on three emails in my inbox. One is the New York Times Daily Briefing, which, on good days, I read with care. The second is from theSkimm, also a daily news summary and which again, on good days, I read with care. And the third is from Merriam-Webster: their Word-of-the-Day. They give […]
Read more