Fate, TX (December 4, 2024) – Tucked within every perfect looking life, every beautiful family, everything that looks just so ideal on social media, is the reality of dysfunction. I don’t know a family without it. Mine is no exception. I am as guilty as any of showing all the pretty things, delighting in all […]
Fate, TX (October 28, 2024) – It was a quiet pleasure to wake up to a foggy morning here. The slow start appreciated, as I was up during the night having one of those sleepless times. Not wanting to sit and look at my iPad, I went to the guest room to putter a little […]
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 […]
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 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 […]