Our local newspaper informs us when we are allowed to have a fire in our fireplace. Those “burn days” are few and far between, even in wet-chill-to-the-bone weather. We recently had a burn day and lit a fire in our hearth. Ah, there is nothing like a nice crackling fire on a cold, blustery day. …
Rick and I live in Northern California, and for the last few weeks, we have been drenched. We’ve needed rain desperately over the last few years, but now, the storms are coming, one after another, soaking the flood plains (where we live), saturating mountainsides and filling creeks, streams, rivers and reservoirs. We’ve had days of …
Usually, New Year’s Eve will see me meditating and writing out my list of possibilities for the coming year. This year, respiratory flu has sapped me of energy to do anything but lounge under a blanket and watch episodes of “Star Trek” (the original) and “Twilight Zone” and then an entire season of “Humans”. I …
Rick and I just enjoyed one of our yearly traditions: watching “Ben Hur” (1959 with Charleton Heston) based on Lew Wallace’s novel, Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ published in 1880. The movie never fails to make me cry – several times. This version earned 11 Oscars, and still stands as one of the …
Moving is one of those activities that is listed high up on the stress charts. We’ve now been in our new home for two months and the work hasn’t stopped. I don’t think I’m stressed. I don’t feel stressed. Rick would be the one to tell you if he’s noticed any stress cracks showing up …
When I started writing blogs, my primary concern was the limited amount of time we all have these days. Everyone is busy. Time is precious and limited, and we each have choices in how we spend it. The last thing I want is to waste yours by writing something that didn’t come from my heart. …
To complete my first devotional, Earth Psalms (you can find it half off at Barnes & Noble for the holiday season), I collaborated with writer and editor Karin Stock Buursma. Karin was a pure delight to work with. But I have to admit, I held my breath a little to see how she felt about …
In the past month, we have had many reasons to give thanks to the Lord. We have seen how God can make His plan known and work quickly to get things done when we surrender our will to Him. The issue is always whether we trust enough to obey. Our trust was tested recently when …
It’s been a few weeks, and we’re still moving in. Hills of boxes in the garage await opening when storage cabinets arrive. We keep purging – books, furniture, mementos. Empty, flattened boxes now outnumber the full ones, but we have forty-seven years of accumulation to prune. A few rooms look like home: our bedroom, living …
We’ve moved several times over the years, but it’s been fifteen years since our last change of address. I’ve been pushing to move for a year. As we get older, and Rick’s Parkinson’s advances, we need to be in a one-story home. No more stairs. No more steep hills that keep us house-bound (except for …