After leaving Little Rock, the next stop on our cross-country journey was Oklahoma City.  We arrived early enough to take the six-block walk from our hotel to the memorial to the victims and survivors of the bombing of the federal building in April, 1995.  I had been there before with my daughter, b...

We stopped in Little Rock to visit my cousin Susie and to see her new home.  Her daughter graciously offered her guest house, and Susie and her husband Tom dedicated a full day to squire us around their new city.

Little Rock has many wonderful things to explore.  We opted to take a trolley ride to ...

When we stopped by Evansville, Indiana to see our recently widowed friend Kathy, I asked if we could visit her husband John’s grave with her.  His ashes were buried about a month ago in his family plot in Boonville, Indiana.  In the car on the way to Boonville, Kathy observed that cemeteries are “ki...

I had one chore to do in Indianapolis as we passed through town on our way from Michigan to California.  I wanted to clean my grandparents’ headstones. 

All my grandparents are buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, one of the largest and loveliest cemeteries in the Midwest…555 wooded acres, with the talle...

I am mad for Lake Michigan sunsets.  But on one of my last mornings at our summer place I was captivated by the morning sky.  With the sun rising behind me, the clouds were tinted with a whisper of pink as though painted by Maxfield Parrish.  And I thought, “Lord, it is good for me to be here…let me...

Last week, kayaking with a friend, we decided to paddle upriver where I had seen an eagle perched on a tree branch the week before.  Years ago, the eagles had built their nest in one of the highest pines along the river.  It was no longer there; but because the eagle I had seen was calling to one I ...

There are sounds the river makes
when you float with the current
on a lazy afternoon: 

there’s the rustle and applause
of the cottonwood trees
as the breeze riffles through the leaves,
and even the creak of the tall trunks
when the wind really gets cracking;

there’s the screeching call and response
of th...

Last week all my children and grandchildren went back to California.  While I am sure I will enjoy the next few weeks with a slower pace and a quieter cottage, right now it is almost too quiet.  I mean, yes, I got a good night’s sleep that first night after they left, but I woke with an undergirding...

On top of the dune sits a wise man
   watching the clouds drift on
contemplating the matters of this world
   as if of another one.

He’s not detached, exactly…he’s
   part of the human throng,
but he finds his meaning in heavenly realms
  and not in the “sturm und drang.”

 Life is full of twists and tur...

Our summers in Epworth are so busy.  In the last week alone, several members of our family have participated in a community wide tennis tournament (Pickleball was the week before!), a variety show full of songs, dances and skits, requiring multiple rehearsals, and a parade involving all the kids in ...