One of my “bucket list” items for our stay in Amsterdam was to visit the Anne Frank Museum, but I missed the window of opportunity to get my tickets.  Every Tuesday tickets go on sale for six weeks hence, and you can only buy them on line.  You mustn’t dally if you want to order them.

My second cho...

As the sun rose on our last full day aboard our cruise ship, I peeked out of the window to find that we had crossed into the Netherlands during the night.  Here the landscape was once again flat, but it didn’t feel like the river of the first few days.  The scenery along this portion of the river wa...

When I booked our Rhine River cruise, I think I expected scenic vistas of snow-topped mountains and Sleeping Beauty Castles.  What we got for the first few days was flat countryside resembling the American Midwest, and industrial ports-of-call surrounded by warehouses and factories.  Like every majo...

When I was planning our wedding in 1974, I dreamed of carrying a bouquet of lilacs and lilies-of-the-valley.  However, I was assured that it would be too costly, and since our wedding was tiny, I opted for a corsage instead.

Strasbourg, France is a city full of romance.  On the Saturday of our visi...

It isn’t the most beautiful of towns in Germany, and I’m sure it isn’t the most impressive church.  The little town of Breisach isn’t even one of the tour options on our Rhine River cruise.  But in the interest of easing into our cruising experience, Dave and I decided to forgo taking a tour on the ...

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
                                  ...