We seem to have become a regular stop on the journey of a black bear as he/she comes out of hibernation each spring.  For the last few Aprils, this lovely creature has shambled through our yards, lolled in our swimming pool, and climbed up our eucalyptus tree for an afternoon snooze.  The bear has f...

My husband and I are not experienced or comfortable foreign travelers.  It should therefore come as no surprise that our dream vacation to celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary with a Rhine River cruise should have started as a bit of a nightmare. 

It began when the car that took us to the air...

Ever since 2004 I have attended the biennial Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin University in Grand Rapids.  This three-day gathering of writers from all faiths held at a Christian university is chock-full of encouraging and insightful words, especially appreciated by myself, a book group facil...

The ladies along the shoreline dance,
willowy, zoftig, expressing their glee;
they strut their stuff, those with hair aflame,
in a perichoresis of love.  And we

who behold them, laugh at them, with them,
and join in the dance, sisters and friends.
Bronzed and immobile they gambol still
as one silly goose...

               sweet alyssum in the morning
                                  A haiku

                       In the dawn of spring
                   all fissures are flower pots
                    in which seeds take root

                     seeds on parched earth
                                  ...

After church on Good Friday, I came home to cook dinner.  As I often will do, I turned on the TV as a sort of white noise as I went about my work.  Surfing through the channels I happened upon a rebroadcast of “The Passion of the Christ” just as the scene where Peter is watching Jesus be tried and f...

I’m not a Roman Catholic.  But this week, my annual cousins weekend brought me to Little Rock, Arkansas.  With Palm Sunday approaching, my cousin Susie, our hostess, asked if the others of us felt a desire to go to church.  Her daughter’s family is Catholic, so we decided to attend with Meghan and A...

Have you ever thought that when you put someone on a pedestal, you have made them into stone or cold metal?  The thing you admire them for has more to do with your own need than with who they really are. 

The people we admire are complex; they are not always noble or kind or restrained.  Sometimes ...

I have always worried about disappointing others, but thankfully I have not feared disappointing God.  I desire to give the Lord my best and to be wise and apt in my navigation of life. 

I would love to always say the thing that helps another person in his or her specific situation.  I want to be f...

Years ago, I had a little knitting business with my mother and my sister.  Bumberschnerds were the scarves we knit….occasionally we added hats into the mix.  We’d knit little metal “B”s into each piece and sell them to a local snowboard shop and a small boutique.  We were quite the rage.  

At one p...