Two-week review


Life around home

Sometimes my life spins more quickly than I can follow. Here are some snapshots from the past two weeks. We spent a precious weekend with our second son on his home visit. He said that when I took him back to camp, he wanted to show me Eagle’s Point, so we packed a lunch and […]

August 1, 2019

Under the ice


Growing stuff

Today, at last, the snow melted enough for me to check how things were doing. The tulip greens were up a couple of inches, the daffodils barely poking, not even the crocuses showing any color yet. I looked for the Lenten Rose, finally exposed to the light just hours before.

It was tiny and crumpled and distressed.

March 28, 2018

Regarding herbs


Growing stuff

In my husband’s rubber boots, I walk through the crunchy-wet snow to check how things are growing. Brave and hardy, new-sprung leaves are poking through the ice. I always worry about them, and wish I could tuck them up warm. They need another mama while the earth pulls her nasty pranks on them and leaves them to shiver.

March 6, 2018

Gifts of great beauty


Life around home, Uncategorized

So now that we are talking to each other, what should we talk about? If I were a smarter blogger, I would have quickly followed up on your willingness to talk with a titillating post on a hot topic, like “Q: What do you think of The Shack?” (A: I don’t think of it at […]

March 28, 2017

In praise of the soybean


Food, Growing stuff

My dad grew edamame before it was cool. We called it by another name back then. In the garden he claimed from a Minnesota meadow, he planted rows of soybeans, poor man’s food he remembered from his boyhood. When the plants died in the late summer, he uprooted them by the dozen and laid them […]

January 4, 2017

Herb gardens


Growing stuff

Confession: I am obsessed with herbs. Gripped. Infatuated. Besotted with herbs. Last year we dug up a patch along the south side of my house and I started an herb garden, with flat slabs of limestone for edging and paths, and a handful of starts from my aunt and a few friends. Thyme. Sage. Rosemary. […]

July 14, 2014

I Am From


Brain things

What Anita did looked so fun I decided to try it too. Here’s the template if you want to join the party. Based on the beautiful poem “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon. ***** I am from hot suppers and homegrown cabbage and children in and out of doors. I am from the ancient gray […]

January 21, 2014

Green beans and good deeds


Growing stuff, Walking with Jesus

Did you know that I can hear what plants are saying? This is one reason why I hate weeding (besides the fact that it is hard work): it feels cruel and unfair. I hate the sight of all those babies gasping and shriveling in the sun. When I prune I have to steel myself against […]

July 30, 2013

On gardening and imperfection


Growing stuff, Walking with Jesus

Part A Confession: Almost I would give up writing on any issue I care about, for the way in which I am tested in that area immediately afterwards. I wrote about seeing work as play, and immediately began taking my own so seriously I could hardly stop to breathe. I wrote about grace, and started […]

July 4, 2013