Have you met my friend, Lyla? “I do my thinking in the bleachers and my writing in the living room with balls flying, bats or clubs swinging and ESPN on in the background. When Spongebob comes on, I get nothing done.” She writes, she says, because there are words. And because she doesn’t know […]
The M.O.M. Initiative
I became a mom at an “older” age–when I “should” have been wiser. But I wasn’t, and I did a lot of things wrong, and I have a lot of regrets. I didn’t get an instruction manual, though my shelves sagged with books. I wasn’t perfect. I didn’t have all the right answers. And I […]
If You’re Grieving . . . Embrace Your Wild Side
Sunday was a God day. I wrote about it here. And the comments. Well, they’re God things to me, too. But I forgot to mention the zoo. The pastor talked about it before he launched into his message. Well, I guess it was part of the message when you think about it. That whole […]
Book Review: Understanding What Matters Most by Stephanie Shott
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a […]
Textures of Text: Michigan Food and Trivia
I love my new cookbook, The Best of the Best from Michigan. I can’t wait to try the Country Tomato Pie or the So-Creamy Sweet Potato Soup or Bev’s Strawberry-Pecan Salad or the Bengal Lime Curry. But I also love all the Michigan trivia that it includes. Like the ones I’m sharing over at The […]
A Chicken for Christmas
That’s what my husband’s getting. Because he doesn’t need anything. He’ll tell you that himself. And I’m into simple and meaningful this year. And short on time. Or maybe I’ll give him a hammer and a saw. Well, not directly to him. To someone who knows what to do with them. And Grace Face? […]
Learning Christ
The glider recognizes me this morning. I’ve spent a lot of time in it over these last weeks. I pull it out to the middle of the room so I can see out over the bay. I pick up this book and page through it, pause to savor words. And my heart stops on this […]
Book Review: Stained Glass Hearts by Patsy Clairmont
I’m sitting in one of the white gliders, cushioned in peach and white stripes. I hold the book on my lap and gaze at the framed stained glass that hangs on the peach wall above the white chest in the meditation room. I note the seagulls (at least they look like seagulls), the hills, the […]
Mindful Aging–Corn, Cars, and Snowshoes
Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting and fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate . . . To my own surprise, I burst out with hot conviction. ~Florida Scott-Maxwell as quoted in Mindfulness, p. 93 I’ll call him John. He was a retired minister who lived in […]
Give Yourself Permission
I could hike Circle Bluff again. Or I could swim in Blue Hole. Or both. Or I could lay claim to a hammock. But I want to do art, I say. I used to do art. Crocheting, cross-stitching, soapmaking, scrapbooking, stamping, quilting. Painting–not so much. But doing art takes money. And there’s the clutter […]
