A good, long novel ... Swimming laps ... Freckles popping up on my nose ... Drinks on the porch ... Lazy, slow, weekend afternoons ... The smell of freshly mowed grass ... Lighting bugs ... (first spotting last night!) Lush, sweet-smelling flowers ... Working up a (good) sweat ... Sun on my face ... The […]

Memorial Day is past; it is now officially "The Season of the Porch!" I have declared it so! We live in a very old home. The exact date she was built is sketchy. We have some books that came with the home when we purchased her almost 25 years ago, and they allude to the […]

Why is it that when I put my hands in the dirt I feel better? What is it about mud and worms and soil under my nails that grounds me? Why do I love weeding by hand - pulling out unruly dandelions and clover - to create what feels like a bit of order in […]

Down near the bottom of the crossed-out list of things you have to do today, between "green thread" and "broccoli," you find that you have penciled "sunlight." Resting on the page, the word is beautiful. It touches you as if you had a friend and sunlight were a present sent from someplace distant as this […]

This is a strange new world we are living in. A world of distance and a world of deep connection with all humanity. A world of fear and a world of hope. A world of confusion and a world being deluged with facts and pseudo facts. A world of silence and a world of "sound […]

When I don't have words to pray, I turn to the Psalms. Though the ancient words don't always hit home, and though King David's requests that his mortal enemies be smashed to bits don't feel very Christlike to me, the poetry strikes a chord in my soul. And there are moments when a section or […]