I still miss my dear Victoria magazine. I guess I think about it especially this time of year because the Valentine’s issue was always so delectable. And perhaps because the first one I ever picked up in the grocery store was February 1989. I could scarcely believe my eyes as I started flipping through, and…
Here’s a little post I wrote for YLCF: Hearts and Flowers
Here is a song I urge you to purchase as an mp3. (It’s only .99! And I don’t think it’s available on an album.) It’s one that Philip and I just love. Whenever it comes on, we both stop whatever we happen to be doing and just sit down and listen to it. If you…
Yesterday afternoon found me poking about in the attic in search of old family ephemera for an article I was writing. The day was wild and wet, and the wind shrieked deliciously about the eaves as I crouched under the one dim lamp, a pile of yellowed papers and photographs on my lap. As a…
Here is an exquisite little poem for a chilly night… The hearth we sit around is prayer, At desk and choir-stall: there The warmth of love bounds forth In stationary fire; Within the house of faith the north And night of self-retire Shut out the door, and hot desire Lights up the air, Runs through…
I first made the acquaintance of Alice Van Leer Carrick many years ago by way of a fat, red book of Christmas stories. Though delighted by most, I was completely enchanted with the one entitled simply Christmas in Our Town. In her treasured reminiscences of a New England holiday over eighty years ago I found…
I can’t WAIT to see this movie! Even the trailer brings tears to my eyes. My sister saw this documentary-style film in New York and wept all the way through it–she said that it made her want to paint ballerinas, which I think would be great considering her ballet background and her art career! She…
I simply cannot believe that my little sister is celebrating her first anniversary of marriage today! Sometimes it seems like we should still be playing with our dolls and having picnics by the creek… Here’s a little story that I wrote when she was on her honeymoon last year.
I wanted to show you a lovely present given to me by one of my dear girlfriends, and which has brightened my home through the holidays and beyond. Back in November she came up my front steps with a huge florist’s box all wrapped in craft paper and decorated with dried ferns. To my mystified…
My sister-in-law’s post on food writing so inspired me this morning that I thought I’d just sit down and tell you what I’m fixing for dinner tonight, as it’s one of my all-time favorite meals. This recipe is Comfort Food, pure and simple, which is what my hearth-loving soul craves in winter. I love to…
Is there any more delicious treat than a mailbox stuffed with a manilla envelope containing a much-awaited book? As a little Christmas present to myself this year I located four of the published volumes of a new favorite author, Alice Van Leer Carrick. At 3 to 6 dollars a piece–one of which was inscribed by…
That’s what a friend’s grandmother calls this sad post-Christmas season. I couldn’t agree more. For the past several years I have looked forward to January as season of self-imposed quietness, of dormancy and rest. I have required little of myself, and indulged in gentle, thoughtful pursuits that allow me to enjoy the coziness of my…
“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righeousness, those that remember thee in thy ways…" Isaiah 64: 4 I know all…
“But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.” Luke 2:19 My sister-in-law had a very sweet post this morning on the pleasures of this quiet week after…
"Many merry Christmases, friendships, great accumulation of cheerful recollections, affection on earth, and Heaven at last for all of us!" Charles Dickens
Through the clear wintry sunshine the bells this morning rang from the gray church tower amid the leafless elms, and up the walk the villagers trooped in their best dresses and their best faces—the latter a little reddened by the sharp wind: mere redness in the middle-aged; in the maids, wonderful bloom to the eyes…
Mamma has been so busy around here that she hasn’t had time to post, so we thought we’d just pop in and let you know what she’s been up to. The house is full of wonderful smells, and there’s greenery and ribbons everywhere for us to play with! Two days ago two pretty ladies…
Here is that touching little snippet of Mrs. Miniver’s life that I alluded to earlier. It’s especially dear after an evening of wrapping Christmas presents by the fire…
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