Welcome To My New Site!
Last month, I wrote here about retiring from the past and embracing the future. The thoughts sprung from the decision to retire my website. But before I could move forward, I reined in the memories from its inception to now. In 2013, I created a website, developed from writerly beginnings on Blogspot where “Magical Thinking” took me to places of reflection and meaning, all the way to writing my first book, Under the Birch Tree, a memoir of discovering connections and finding home. Later, I would share my second [...]
From Old Home to New: Retiring the Past, Embracing the Future
a river's reflection of heaven and earth Many years ago, there was a small ranch-style brick house on a large lot the next block over. Once a golden honey color, it had turned to a brown mustardy yellow. The house has since been demolished, and a larger, modern two-story has taken most of the space in the large lot. The new house is white, with black window trim and door, a far contrast in design from the seventy-year-old house once plotted there. When I pass the house, I remember [...]
Embracing Simplicity in a Complex World: Lessons from Nature
An awakening started with a potted plant. It sat tall bedside in front of a window to capture what little light it could from an otherwise dim room. I wrote a while back on this blog about a much needed green thing during the winter. It popped from the mother plant, a small thing that pushed its head through the compact soil, then soon after opened its thick slender leaves as if to say, "I'm here and I have found my place." It was the anticipation of the budding and [...]
from playing it safe to discovering the unknown
When I considered preparing for a book launch talk to be customary, as I had been talking about my debut novel, The Wisdom of the Willow, for some time now, it wasn’t. I had been preparing answers for questions when I realized I had been playing it safe with my writing. Over the past twenty years, I have been a writer of memoir and the personal essay, composing along a smooth non-fiction road with no bumps or turns. After all, I was secure there, growing familiar with the [...]
how the natural world shows – The power of story
One fall morning while treading the parched earth through the woods, I veered from a narrow path to a short bridge hunched over a sleepy river. A pair of mallards commanded a “V” through water like plate glass. Oaks, in states of bright fall undress, hugged the banks. Peace and a soft landscape filled my vision. The sun’s rays had lifted just high enough to pierce the water, shattering the surface. Sparkles burst from the clash—like diamonds. I embedded in thought the place and the setting as if never [...]
1000 Photographs, 1000 Memories – Do you really need one to preserve the other?
Recently, I opened an “All Photos” file on my computer where I have over 1000 photos, dating back to 2008. With each click of the next photo, I recalled when and where the photos were taken. I considered each snapshot to be a moment in time, uttering, “Oh, that was when . . .” as I had a good look at the picture. There were photos of my nephew’s birthday parties, and other parties, and other people, and holidays. Some photos were dated back to the sixties and seventies; [...]
When coming full circle
A rusty paper clip held them together. Typed letters, faded from the dark-inked punch of typewriter keys filled lines on discolored pages rimmed in muted brown. Stories told here were pulled from a brown envelope written over forty years ago by my then college self. The pages took me back in time to settings and places where words were heavy with observations, and innocence of a college freshman. Fingering the crinkly pages was like holding steppingstones into what is now my published writing life. They weren’t just youthful reflections caught [...]
A sense of place
Tucked in a corner of a shallow closet for two years now is a metal file box. I’ve always known it to be there, despite it being hidden by a stuffed bag of unwanted items for the Goodwill. Opening the closet door was like cuing a flashback when several rosaries, a wooden cross, a small statue of the Virgin Mary, and a burgundy wallet were put into the box upon my mother’s death, keeping them held tight like a tomb. I thought of the box, its contents, and how they [...]