Greetings! If you’re a regular reader, you know the past two weeks I’ve suggested some prayers that I’ve found helpful, and I continue to encourage everyone to write prayers and affirmations too. It’s funny, because almost as soon as the first post went up, I began to feel kind of down. And so I felt … Continue reading Continued Sheltering, part three
This week I want to share a prayer my late friend Craig taught me. It’s very simple: “Release into Essence.” Essence was Craig's word for Divine Energy or God. It’s a versatile prayer, appropriate to multiple situations, and adaptable to your own circumstances and beliefs. You may wish to insert your name for God--be it … Continue reading A Prayer for Trying Times
Greetings to everyone who is sheltering in place as I am. How are you? I am fine. There are many things we could complain about—and if that’s what you want to do, go ahead and vent in the comments section. I personally have little to grouse about these days. I am retired so I don’t … Continue reading Sheltering-in-Place, part 2
April is National Poetry Month, so I'll be posting a few poems this season. Currently I spend more time writing prose stories instead of poems, so it's been fun for me to look back at poems I wrote in past decades. This poem is from a period when I was experimenting with classic forms. … Continue reading The Bear, a sestina
When I was 21 I went to Europe on a five-week student tour with my best friends. On our last day we were in England, and we went on a boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich. I have several memories of that day, a few funny stories, conversations, photos, but there was one image … Continue reading Sheltering-in-Place
Alice Hoffman’s “The World That We Knew” is an achingly beautiful fairy tale about the Holocaust. Her novel emphasizes the plight of children separated from their parents: Jewish children and the offspring of Resistance Fighters hiding with false ID’s in convent schools; others roaming by themselves or in small groups in the forest, foraging for … Continue reading The World That We Knew, a review
I wrote and published this piece six years ago, shortly after the death of a close friend. I came across it this week, and honestly, I'd forgotten that I wrote this as a Christmas meditation. The idea of surprise is becoming a theme for me this December. Life deals us all some pretty unpleasant surprises … Continue reading Loving Harvey: some Christmas musings
This is a true story. It happened several years ago, when I was still working full time. It was early on a Saturday morning when I set out with a long list of errands. First up: go to the ATM for cash so I could do the other errands! As I walked across the parking … Continue reading grace: a surprise from the universe
Hey, it's getting cold and rainy here: perfect time to take refuge in books! Enjoy! My edition of Their Eyes Were Watching God had plenty of literary and historical notes both fore and aft, but I’ll admit I got impatient and just started in on the novel itself. I will tell you that the editors … Continue reading Book Review: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Do you remember that scene in Out of Africa when Meryl Streep, playing Karen Blixin (later known by her nom de plume Isak Dinesen) was hosting Robert Redford and Michael Kitchen on her estate in Africa, and times being what they were--before CD’s and DVD’s—she entertained them with an after-dinner story. Robert Redford’s character gave … Continue reading Making Up Stories: my spiritual practice
