Someone wrote, "HI" in the snow.

I was walking down the glass-encased stairwell when I saw it through the window--a 15 ft "HI" greening in six inches of week-old snow. At the college where I work, all of the stairways run external to the building, and while I'm sure it was… Read full post »

Wednesday night, I received an email from my 11-year-old daughter. The subject line read, "Over the Top." She was mad at me because the pugs pooped all over her eighteen-year-old sister's bed. Perhaps I should restate that. She was mad at me because I reacted in a manner that she termed,… Read full post »

So here I sit, January 19, trying to find the end of the golden thread. I hear the dogs in the other room, their nails in need of clipping, clicking against the hard wood floor. I am aware that I have neglected my job as dog groomer—it clicks with those padded… Read full post »

Anxious.

That is how I felt yesterday while trying to keep the Sabbath. Okay, I should stop calling it the Sabbath. The Sabbath is Friday evening to Saturday night, but I like the way it sounds. I like the word itself, that soft "s" stretching by way of that short "a"… Read full post »

Yes, I know, the Sabbath is traditionally celebrated from Friday evening to Saturday evening, but I have convinced myself that if I'm going to try this Sabbath thing--taking a day of rest--it will have to be on Sunday. 

I've been toying with this idea since I read Barbara Brown… Read full post »

Late afternoon on Saturday, the first day of this new year, I am ready for church. Audrey has to serve, so she is pouting around hoping, I'm sure, that her lack of enthusiasm will change my mind--there's been a lot of church the past couple of weeks with Advent and all.… Read full post »

I hate resolutions.

I refuse to make one, to resolve, to be steadfast and determined to attain some goal. Ten pounds off my ass. House-trained pugs. Balanced meals at least three nights a week--fewer PopTarts for breakfast. Keeping a laundry day. Writing 1000 words a day. Less screaming. Less sarcasm… Read full post »

I am not ambitious. 

Last night, Sydni and I sat on our old couch with its stained cushions and broken springs, the light from the Christmas tree glowing warmly in the corner of the room. Sydni's quick fingers tapped away at an online application because I want her to have a… Read full post »

Carter's birthday is right before Christmas. So far, he hasn't realized that this is, in the mythic lore of birthdays, a rather  inopportune time to have a birthday. I've been rather proud of his insistence to those who try to commiserate with him--"What a bad time to have a birthday!"--that Dec… Read full post »

I bring the Catholic business up for a couple of reasons. First of all I feel the need to apologize. Yes I’m Catholic but: 1) I’m not down with the pope (see I don’t even capitalize his title), 2) I am pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-women-should-be-ordained, 3) I believe that in order to… Read full post »

 Unconditional Love

            Conditional: Subject to one or more conditions. Not absolute.

            I guess it’s time to get to the heart of this “unconditional&rdq/… Read full post »

Over the holiday weekend, my husband and I watched the first four Harry Potter movies with our two youngest children, Audrey (11) and Carter (8). Neither my husband, Eric, nor Carter had ever laid eyes on a Potter flick until we took on this weekend film marathon—Eric because he isn’t all… Read full post »

Yesterday, my family sat down to a large dining room table in my  mother and father's dining room. Around the table sat my brothers, my sister, their spouses and a few of our children--the rest of them were in the kitchen where dropped mashed potatoes and gravy were no big… Read full post »

The mid-term elections have come and gone, and with political commentary going something like this: People are disappointed with the President and sending him a message, I find myself sliding down the slick slope of uncertainty.  There is no way people can believe the obnoxious vitriole comin/… Read full post »