I was sitting at my friend’s quiet farm table when I remembered the way to write when I don’t feel like it or think I have something significant enough to say. Just start. Then Jesse-dog came over and sat on my feet, as if to say, stay awhile longer. The truth is, in 45 years, I can’t recall ever having a dog sit on my feet before. For a quarter.. Read More
Our Roads
I was behind the wheel and curving around a familiar road in a thick fog a few nights past. There’s something special that happens on roads we know by heart when circumstances suddenly make them strange and unfamiliar to us. It could be the first time on that road at nightfall or a heavy thunderstorm or the first time cutting through a heavy fog. It happens in a moment and.. Read More
It’s time for a new book about love…
If I could sit down with a pen and paper to write each of you from my heart tonight I’d tell you it’s finally time! After more than four years, my book, The Love Writings: a ragamuffin’s letters about love, is ready to be released into the world—it is ready for you. I am delighted and nervous, but most of all I am relieved and ready and hopeful. I hope.. Read More
To be like a river…
I used to walk on the edges of stairs, until I fell enough times to learn to walk differently. The last time I walked that way I lost a baby in my womb. There are things that happen that make a soul remember. This is a letter to those of you who recognize that there are some things that also need to be forgotten, unlearned, rewired, transformed—it will look and.. Read More
The Friendship of God
Hello Friends, Welcome to 2021, a year of promise. In our corner of the wilds, it’s been a *chilly* start to the new year—in a few ways. As I look up into the sound of the wind blowing through the pines my heart feels full to bursting as I know I can truly say, “I would have lost heart, unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the.. Read More
Beginnings, Endings, The Myriad Unknowns and…It’s Okay
Thank You and a Give-Away! Seven years ago, this month, I began writing on this blog having no idea where it would lead and it’s got me feeling tender and misty-eyed as I recollect the time. Seven years ago my youngest wasn’t quite two years old, and my oldest was twelve. Now my youngest is asking me for a briefcase for his upcoming birthday because he is a full-fledged-eight-year-old-entrepreneur and.. Read More
Between the Darkenings (my friend C.T. Giles taught me those words, and…)
I’d been facing and hiking west most of the late afternoon, watching the sunlight play in the mist cascading down the mountainsides. I had been captivated. Then, as the sun sank low, I turned to a sound behind me. Facing east now, I was surprised when my eye caught the first rays of the moon rising over the mountain. Winter will be here soon and the days are growing darker.. Read More
Dirt Paths (Part 2)
In the last few days have you noticed a change in the air? A season has turned. In the lunisolar calendar, the year 5781 has begun. What will we do with this year? Wanna take a dirt path, together? Yesterday, I shared a favorite quote: “Of all the paths in life you take, make sure a few of them are dirt.” -John Muir In Part 1, I wrote about.. Read More
Dirt Paths (Part 1)
“Of all the paths in life you take, make sure a few of them are dirt.” -John Muir It’s easiest to feel compelled by these words when we’re out adventuring. Dusty dirt seems just right when summiting a mountain peak on a misty morning or even meandering on a sandy shoreline in the dark of night waiting for the excitement of a new moon to appear. Our souls sigh contentedly.. Read More
The Quiet & the Thunder in the Confluence
“…standing between the earth and sky, we are silenced by the sight…” -Abraham Joshua Heschel, I Asked for Wonder Hello my friends, What a confluence in time we are within! It’s had me in a quiet place considering the many river-like convergences in our lives that at once bring a loss of self and a greater intimacy. I find as I get older not a lack of meaning or nothingness in.. Read More