Fate, TX (September 9, 2024) – I had lunch with a dear friend the other day. I’ve been kind of absent lately. I know some of y’all have missed me, you’ve told me so. Some weeks the words seem to well up and pour out. Sometimes, as is happening now, the words are hard to […]
Fate, TX (July 26, 2024) – I am drinking coffee from my Finnish cup. Espresso really, with a thick mound of foamed half and half crowning the hot, strong brew. Just one cup. This is not an indication of any resolute self-discipline, it’s just that the double shot satisfies me for the day. This cup […]
Fate, TX (June 21, 2024) – The B.O.B. and I were at a local garden center to get a bag of rock last evening. A woman was perusing the multitudes of varying types of bags of soil, with dazed confusion in her eyes. She approached us and asked my husband, “Sir, can you give me […]
Rockwall, TX (April 25, 2024) – I can see no way that we will get through the season without me writing about the garden, so let’s do this now. The Mildscape is in glorious full bloom in the third week of April. How can I neglect mentioning vibrant Roses, sweet Dianthus, Cat Mint tipped in […]
Rockwall, TX (March 27, 2024) – Happiness is a place between too much and too little. – Finnish Proverb Happiness is continuing to desire what we already have. – Saint Augustine The above quotes are favorites of mine. The first, a Finnish Proverb, is one that has rolled around in my spirit for years. Not […]
Rockwall, TX (February 8, 2024) – As I began to consider this column, I was sitting in front of the Christmas tree. No, I do not leave the tree up until February! The tree came down during the first week of January. Our tree, as for many of you, is filled with memories. Most years […]
Rockwall, TX (December 18, 2023) – Holidaze. A month of anticipation, lights and Shiny Brites, holiday programs and choruses. Gifts to be found, wrapping accomplished, Angel Trees and food banks to fill. So much packed into just about four weeks, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. A month of myriad emotions and some humbugs too. The […]
Rockwall, TX (November 10, 2023) – My grandparents were Finnish immigrants, settling on the Keeweenaw Peninsula, in the Copper Country, Upper Peninsula of Michigan. “Ukki”, as we called my grandfather, worked as a copper miner and owned a small property in Allouez; a home for his family with a barn across the lane, cows and a […]
Rockwall, TX (October 20, 2023) – I have a friend who frequents thrift stores. She recently shared a photo of a treasure she had passed up while on a foraging expedition. The photo showed a red, green, and blue snowman, crafted of Playdoh, with perky yellow buttons, requisite carrot nose and a winsome sky-blue derby. […]
Rockwall, TX (October 4, 2023) – What fortune to have a birthday in autumn! Though the past days have belied it, we inch closer to fall weather. Mornings are pleasant on the patio. Shaded from the sun, I can soak in the beauty of the revivified fall garden and watch the chaotic antics of the […]