Out into the dazzling sunlight of a Virginia morning . I love mowing our lawn. It wears me out thoroughly and creates the illusion that in spite of the aging process, I am still physically capable of just about anything. I tuck my cell phone into my back jeans pocket, just in case I might … Read more
I’m standing in line at the Walmart return desk with an unflattering pair of shorts I’d never wear in public (you have to be careful with shorts at my age), watching a mini drama play out right in front of my eyes. Two young men (probably on the cusp of 21) are attempting to return … Read more
(Facebook Picture) It’s one of those evocative high summer days when it seems as though the winter rains will never return. A dream of a day. On this ragged northwest corner of Washington state, huge cottony clouds pile high in the bluest of skies. The mountain is smiling. Starting at sea level near Bellingham Bay, … Read more
“Oh, it’s just an ordinary, garden variety head cold.” Really? Back to the Latin root. Ordinary. “Of the usual order”, “of a kind to be expected in the normal order of events”. We should expect them? Probably, or never leave the house. No air travel for sure. But I wouldn’t call them ordinary. There’s … Read more
The clock is moving toward supper time. Looks like I spaced when reading my new soup recipe – it’s calling for spinach, lemon and scallions. I could have fudged the recipe but then I’d never know what it would really taste like. So I make a flying trip to a store nearby that I seldom … Read more
Beautiful soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot tureen, Who for such dainties would not stoop. Soup of the evening, Beautiful Soup. So intoned the Mock Turtle in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”. And I must agree. There is nothing like a fragrant pot of soup, simmering on the back burner. But it’s … Read more
What will it be like? We don’t see things clearly. We’re “squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.”(1 Cor. 13 MSG) There is a lot that we do not know. Yet Paul tells us (Eph. 2) that we as believers are already seated with Christ in heavenly places. Wait! What? Really? And we know … Read more
Looks like we are 1/4 of the way through this pivotal month, with twilights stretching out and a warm breeze now and then. The Finnish calendar calls this month “Helmikuu”, Pearl Month” and we saw why in Virginia yesterday morning, waking to a glaze of ice on every branch. How to celebrate these last few … Read more
Years ago, someone wrote a book with the above title. I never read it and have no idea what it was about. But the phrase stuck in my head. The older I grow, the more it applies. Case in point. My password to my banking account no longer listens to me, in spite of the … Read more
Dashing into the store for a bottle of canola oil (just had to grab it for a favorite cookie recipe) I was stopped in my tracks by the words, “Hi, Mrs. Karjala!” I turned and saw her – a former student from my days as a Learning Disabilities Specialist at Pinkerton Academy, our local high … Read more