I woke up on the early side this morning and sat at the kitchen table with my Bible and my coffee cup. The sun wasn’t up yet, but the light was: everything to the east a pale gray. Naturally, I thought of words. “Effusion,” I thought to myself. “This is an ‘effusion’ of light.” The […]
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These moments are immortal, and most transitory of all;… Beams of their power stream into the ordered world and dissolve it again and again. Martin Buber, I and Thou On the morning of Everett and Olivia’s wedding, I had to pull Everett’s box out from under my bed. I have a box for each of […]
Read more“You get the sense that it’s possible simply to go through life noticing things and writing them down and that this is OK, it’s worth doing. That the seemingly insignificant things that most of us spend our days noticing are really significant, have meaning, and tell us something.” ~Joan Didion Back in my teaching days, […]
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Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I taught school. Er, rather, I taught English. Er, humanities. Er, students. I taught humanities (which included English) to students. And I loved it. Which meant that, occasionally, I got to talk about prepositions. Which I also loved. Prepositions, you say? Why yes, I say. Prepositions.
Read moreLast Wednesday when I drove Emma to school, the pollen hung in the air like a scrim. It comes every year: two weeks of early spring in which our world is silted with a gritty yellow dust. It coats railings and window sills; it clings to cars, dusts the newborn leaves, and pools in untouched […]
Read moreEverett came into the kitchen yesterday and said, “I’m sad Christmas is over.” And it is. Suddenly. Our tree is still up, some decorations still out, but Everett is right. Everyone is back to work or school, and yesterday my parents went on their way. So now–for real and for true–we seemed to have turned […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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