“In my mother’s house there are many dwelling places. . .” paraphrase of John 14: 2 These words echoed in my head last week as we began the work of helping my mom move from her home of 60 years into a senior independent living apartment in her St. Louis Park neighborhood. After 60 years of…
There is a nakedness to the trees in this season, a transparency to them. Perhaps this is part of the reason the Celts believed that there is a thinness to this season. They felt that at this time of year the veil between the living and the dead was very sheer. May Sarton in part of…
This week I had a conversation with one of the kids at the middle school where I work. She asked me, “What is your favorite month of the year?” It happened to be a sunny day and the hillside where the school stood was ablaze with color. We both agreed on the month October, in part because of…
Lately, I have been spending my days at Lincoln Park Middle School working as a paraprofessional. I get to work with lots of different kids and go with them to their classes, again meeting all kinds of kids. I have to say I truly stand in awe of middle school teachers and all they deal…
Last weekend we hiked several trails up on the north shore while camping at Judge Magney State Park. I love this time of year with the smells of pine and cedar, the crunching of leaves underfoot and the softness of the light. The rain and fog muted the colors some, but it was still so…
I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121 The words from this Psalm wove their way around my heart and prayers this past week as we camped and hiked in the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota….
This past Saturday morning, 9/11, I turned on the TV and just listened to the reading of the nearly 3,000 names of those who had died that day 20 years ago. I sat and listened for over 3 hours as many different people took turns reading the names in alphabetical order. Each reader also shared…
Earth’s the right place for love: I don’t know where it’s likely to go better. I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree, And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going…
The words “Be Still and Know” from Psalm 46:10 were on the front of a beautiful card I received in the mail yesterday. Inside the card were words of thanks in Cheryl’s beautiful handwriting. It meant so much to know she had been thinking of me. I took a moment to truly be still and…
“a time to plant, a time to pluck up what is planted” I had hoped to become a better gardener in retirement. Alas, this has not been the case. I have only been able to keep alive the pansies in the front porch flower boxes and 6 spindly cherry tomato plants. I do love picking…