Touch Hands!
The phone calls started the night before and continued well into the morning: “Are you going?” “Do you think the roads will be safe?” “What does your husband say? What does your mother say?” I had been watching the weather forecasts just as intently as everyone else....
Nothing Endures But Change
Mama's Table That was one of Mama’s most oft-repeated quotes, though she rather deplored its sentiment. It’s why, I think, she was always trying to acknowledge—if not preserve—the best moments in the life of our family, the moments in which we were most truly...
A Merry Christmas…and a Bit of News!
It is the Sixth Day of Christmas. Without, the world is cloaked in gloom, dripping with rain and endless mist, but within the lights on the tree and the candles scattered about gleam with increasing warmth. I love this point in the season, when the rooms are tidy and...
The Surety of Joy
This flurry of plansis over, over.And I'm sorry and glad together.Our bustling houseis sane now, sane now.And I'm sorry and glad together."Sorry and Glad Together," Karen Peris This lyric by Karen Peris of The Innocence Mission perfectly articulates my feelings on...
Giving Thanks
Thanksgiving Eve It is the afternoon before Thanksgiving and I’m sitting for a moment by my kitchen fire with my tea (and a wee drop of sherry, just to celebrate all that’s been accomplished thus far!). The cranberry conserve, with its aromas sacred to this day since...
Fear Not, Little Flock
The Cotswolds, July 2019 No joke—we were supposed to be spending St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland. We made the plans months ago, as soon as the date was settled for my Awards Ceremony in Oxford at the end of March: we would visit beloved friends in Northern Ireland and...
A Happy Christmas
It is the Feast of the Epiphany, and I’ve watched the sunrise—as I have almost every morning of this blessed season—beyond the sparkle and magic of my Christmas tree. I’ve seen the low-hung clouds turn lavender and then flush with gold, as if at some heavenly delight,...
Another Thanksgiving Eve
Greetings, Friends! I really can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I’ve written here! Not for want of good intentions, or even ideas, I assure you, but from an utter lack of time. Life has been good the past year—hard in some places and demanding in others—but...
It’s All Pretty Fantastic
A friend and I were Chipotle-ing, talking Thanksgiving twists and turns—of college kids zooming in and out of our homes too quickly and rogue relations popping into town and offspring becoming adults with ideas of their own about how to keep holidays. What a mess we...
Keeping the Feast
I started this post on Saturday and only finished it today. But here's a glimpse into our Thanksgiving--easily the most meaningful of my life. I do hope that each of you had a special and restful holiday... Oh, how I love this time of year; this happy hobnobbing of...
October Greetings
Dear Friends, Greetings on this October afternoon-almost-evening. I’m sitting in the den with my tea, windows open to the brisk sweetness of an autumn breeze and the house fragrant around me with the scent of tonight’s pot roast supper. From the barnyard comes the...
A Bad Case of Place-Love
Some folks claim to be a “dog person or a “cat person.” Others say “I’m a people person”—I am particularly suspicious of these. I am a place person. A recent trip to New England is proof. My relationship with the region is not complicated. Having spent a chunk of my...
Ordinary Time
Face my direction, I wanna to see you better, dear. You're a distraction from everything that I feel. ~ "Turn to White" by She and Him A week ago today, the spouse and I arrived at our getaway spot—a swanky hotel in the not-so-swanky city of...
I’m So Not the Cool Kid
Disclaimer: The following represents a cornucopia of experiences, some of them exaggerated for dramatic effect. A composite, if you will. Names have been omitted or changed to protect the guilty. Congratulations! I say this with a megaphone, ticker tape—with...
Home.
April 8, 2018 I'm writing this post from my sunroom, looking out over the last golden remnants of a brisk-but-beautiful spring day. Behind me, the dogs are snoozing on the kitchen floor, and I know that my husband is sitting at his desk in the den beyond. Yes, my...