I’ve Moved – Come along with me!
In 2013, I logged my first blog post, here on Wordpress blog. It was in name only that I referred to the space with personal essay as I was developing skills as a memoir writer that led me to publication of my first book, Under the Birch Tree, a memoir. An author home page in support of the blog followed. From there, my writer life took off, from writing personal essay to memoir to fiction. Soon, it was time to settle into new space. This past fall, I've done a [...]
Embracing Change: Perspectives on Transition
On a crumbling, narrow road, thirty-two houses sit on either side of a gravel-ditched apron. My home is one of the few remaining cottages built in 1947 for wealthy folks to escape the city to the north suburbs. A patchwork of gray-blue clouds pulls like taffy across the eastern sky. The earth, browned and parched, carries unseasonably warm breezes for this time of year, along with a sense of uncertainty. The mood, seen wide through the large picture window, signals transition as the natural world prepares for sleep. There's change [...]
As Shadows Grow – Time for Observation
With summer’s spirit still lingering in my thoughts, Fall is muscling her way into them. It’s a visual time when change is never more apparent than now. Awareness is heightened as my surroundings of deep green fade from the flora’s coats, and petals of red and yellow and purple drift gently toward the parched earth. Before I let go of summer’s hold, I will remember it as a great time for looking. We looked for places to go and for people to see. We looked to keep busy with the [...]
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 [...]