Every girl swears it won’t happen to her. Every young mother is shocked to see the tell-tale signs. “I’m becoming my Mother.” I see it in the friends I look up after so many years, at childrens graduations, in the tears and laughter. I catch some of those trite and untimely phrases as they want [...]
People in Texas didn’t speak in terms of the four or five cows that brother Norbert would have brokered in Westphalia. Here, people had thousands of head of cattle. They took enormous risks and pulled oil right out of the ground. But the biggest difference was safety, security, warmth, acceptance—knowing that your hardest times were behind you and you’d made it through somehow.
It’s back to school time in my head, even though my last blue fabric-covered notebook was over forty years ago, even though my daughter takes an airplane to school and I kiss her good-bye once for the whole semester. Still, the school calendar calls the tune for me and so many others, etched into our [...]
I’ve lived uneasily with Frazzle for years and finally found out his name when I was listening to Lotte Streisinger—potter, printmaker and author—reading from her recent book on the creative process. (The Potter and the Muse, 2006, Kalliope Press, available at The Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland.) Frazzle, you little devil you. Yes I’m [...]
The start of the year seemed like a good time to revisit Blessings. What’s important? Who’s important? All the big questions sneak up on us this time of year.
A freak snowstorm might be just what we needed to slow down and breathe.
Vacation…. It’s a word full of expectations, delights, new experiences, satisfaction, planning, speed, languor, surprise, discovery, disappointment, and yes, even stress. I’ll be performing this as part of Big Words, for a September debut.