Salt Water, Fresh Water: Have It Both Ways

As if it happens every year, the season’s turning again. The whirring fans many of us had going to help us sleep at night have quieted, and we’re beginning to reach for — gasp — light jackets. We’ve had some rain, at least, and what a gift that has been. Over in the UK, too, the skies have opened up, not deterring the thousands of mourners who will brave most anything to pay tribute to their beloved Queen Elizabeth. Having … Read More

Watching Dad Feed the Horses

I’m giving this one over to Father’s Day. Most likely, you’ve been doing some reflecting on your dad today, too. As my husband Rob — father of our three kids and also sometimes called “Father” by members of his flock — drives back home after marrying a couple yesterday in the Adirondacks, I’m thinking about all that he does to support this family. I’m also considering the slim sliver of time, over 30 years ago, that he had to get … Read More

Some Falls are More Comfy Than Others

It’s February 14th — about the only day in the whole year when taking a fall, or the memory of having taken one, can be considered a good thing. Why is it, anyway, that we talk about “falling in love”? The image conjures up someone keeling over into some kind of all-encompassing, mushy, welcoming substance; or maybe jumping into a pit filled with big, blue rectangles of foam, as I’ve done once or twice when I’ve taken kids to one … Read More

Mr. Rogers Doesn’t Need to Be Here

“We were so glad to be invited!” the woman I’d just met told me. “When we moved in, I wasn’t sure if we’d be part of a neighborhood or not, since our house is on the main road.” I knew what she meant; five years ago, when we began settling onto this street that ends in a cul-de-sac, I hoped it held a promise of new and genuine connections, but I couldn’t be sure. The fact is, when you’ve ever … Read More

Wishing I Were There

My husband, lucky duck, got to go to this place a few days ago. Due to an overwhelming feeling of Pride and Joy, not to mention a connection across several states states with My Guy, I’m writing an unorthodox blog this week.Wait, have I ever been orthodox? Rob is out in Detroit with the House of Bishops for a whole week. You can read the detailed daily briefings here. My own topic, commencing shortly, will be something else entirely. I’m straying … Read More

Any June, Maybe Especially This One, is the Right Time for Haying

It is against the backdrop of unpredictable, terrible acts of violence in different parts of the world that I appreciate anew the peacefulness and splendor of haying in June. The two have nothing to do with one another, of course, and that’s just the point. Over the past half a century, a whole lot has changed—the way we live, the way we communicate with one another and also sometimes isolate ourselves, and the threats we either experience or imagine someone … Read More

Alabama in August? Yup, That’s Right.

“What brought y’all down to Alabama?” the coffee seller on a Montgomery street corner asked, as friendly as she could be. We paused. It wasn’t so easy to explain to a welcoming Southerner that we were a group from New Hampshire travelling through their state to commemorate the murder 50 years ago of a civil rights activist from our state– Jonathan Daniels. But she didn’t flinch and, in fact, said something like, “Oh, that’s SO interesting!” Then she went on … Read More

Take Me to the River…or the Stream, or the Pond

Driving back from early evening tennis a few towns over, I saw the sun hanging low over the rolling New Hampshire fields—still glorious, as if darkness weren’t right on its heels. Going to the pond would mean taking a significant detour from my route and then, after parking, hoofing it under the highway and over to the water. I briefly considered doing the sensible thing: heading home for a shower before joining my family for dinner. But that was really … Read More

What the Rockies Have Done For Me Lately

“Look at that…just miles and miles of emptiness!” “But Mom, what we’re seeing is not empty at all…it’s full-up with Nature.” This is, more or less, how a bit of conversation between my older son and me went as we were driving through the vastness of Wyoming last week. Conversations were few in that car, actually, as we all just tried to drink in the dry spaciousness of what we were seeing, mile after mile. Small talk seemed, well, particularly … Read More

A Woodpile is a Thing of Beauty

It’s funny sometimes, isn’t it, how a task that might at first seem like just another chore to complete on a long list of others becomes more than that, takes on a certain depth and fullness, even gives new life? Take wood-stacking, for instance. Our neighbors down the road had what looked to be a wood-stacking party yesterday. A bunch of cars pulled in, and lots of people wearing gloves were moving about purposefully as I drove by in the … Read More

1 2