Yesterday, a Phoenix judge upheld an ordinance banning churches from feeding the homeless at their places of worship if they are not zoned commercial or industrial.

Churches with underlying residential zoning cannot be in the business of serving the poor, at least not in their residential backyards.… Read full post »

A few weeks ago, we had a thread (which I will not remember accurately) about helicopter parents' snooping in their children's journals, social-networking sites, etc. At the time, I said that I hadn't been inclined to snoop, but, I said, Harris and Klebold ...

The general consensus, with which I agre… Read full post »

 A thousand-year-old handprint from Canyons of the Ancients

This is, presumptiously, a companion piece to Maurice Sendak Tells Parents to Go to Hell by fingerlakeswanderer, who prompted me to think about my experiences and those of my children.

One of my sons, especially,… Read full post »

This gravel is in my driveway. Sorry for the focus; I was somewhat rattled. The snake isn't around any longer. He  had a bad experience with a hoe, although my husband will tell you that a certain frequency and decibel level closely resembling mine can be fatal to snakes and nearly… Read full post »

My neighbor is something of a character.  His porch is festooned with Tibetan prayer flags, in a town where that's not a really good strategy for long-term survival. He has a marked discomfort with social niceties and has yet to look any of us in the eye or speak. He… Read full post »

Because the sunsets look like this when California is burning, but for other reasons as well:

 All of our building principals stood firm today and held all-school assemblies so children could listen to the Obama speech together. “If you want to pull your kids out of… Read full post »

Lucypuma commented on my "Bodysurfing in the desert" thread that we lived in amazingly beautiful country, which made me want to show you the uphill side of our landscape. It's equally beautiful.

Above are the San Miguel Mountains.  Please note that I don't really have foofy hair; I'd jus… Read full post »

One of the Canyons of the Ancients

This post is dedicated to the person who, last week, wrote rather peevishly to accuse me of “idealizing” my life. Mainly, I’ve tried to write lighthearted pieces, but for those of you who want something less upbeat, here is what I did… Read full post »

1) Who was your first prom date? Robbie Stover, of the Russell Stover chocolate family. He tasted sweet when he kissed me.

 2) Who was your first love, and do you still keep in touch? A boy in the first grade. He moved away before second grade and my heart was broken.… Read full post »

Or: Why kids in this region grow thick, thorny skins

My husband and I are walking back across the street from my parents’ house, where we’ve just delivered dinner, when a kid zooms up on a bike.

“You take out my stitches, doc?”

The doc looks blank… Read full post »

My husband and I were talking about Mark Sanford, not because he’s particularly interesting to either of us, but because a local man had gone missing. In the wake of Sanford’s recent detour, people were speculating that this man, too, had taken off for more exotic pastures.

I… Read full post »

 The house, 40-some years ago

We live in an old house in an old town that was never, by anyone’s estimation, rich. We don’t have fancy Victorians; we have functional homes — err, sort of.

Our house was originally a one-story L-shaped frame house. At… Read full post »

 A postcard for a sister-mom

Yesterday a poster here shared some frustration over her children. The response was extremely supportive, except for one person who said something that must surely have felt to the original poster like, “It’s all your fault; you’re inadequate… Read full post »

Colorado is one time zone west of Kansas, so when a friend came bursting in to my church with news of the murder of George Tiller, I was in my study, not in the sanctuary.

My friend was horrified. I was aghast. We prayed for Dr. Tiller, his family, his patients,… Read full post »

My husband and I received a note today from a man who just buried his wife of 60 years. Instead of the standard note thanking us for cards, flowers, food and prayers, this one just says, “Thank you for eating cherries with me when I needed a friend.”

I… Read full post »

1) Jimmy Buffett once sat on my porch and played his guitar.

2) My great-grandparents were close friends of Teddy Roosevelt. 

3) I once preached a funeral for a man who was later found to be alive and (obviously) not the person we had buried.

I was very near the center of the 1993 outbreak of a "new" disease, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, in the Four Corners, so I'm not quite as prone to panic over the swine flu as many people seem to be. Here are excerpts from a presentation I sometimes gave to a university… Read full post »

Thanks to the person who dismembered it, my blog will be largely blank until I can find some time to reassemble the pieces. Meanwhile, enjoy the scenery.

  Read full post »