A spent toad graced the left rut of my driveway this morning, an unfortunate casualty of the early morning commuters. I'll spare you pictures--mostly because the phone was in the house whilst I mounted my morning walk investigation--but this was a large toad when he lived in three dimensions. Now, as most of him--but not... Continue Reading →
A Break
The rains are here this morning. Somehow this is perfect. There is a certain urgency I have in spring when the sun emerges and the weather is warm enough to just sit in that sun and read a book. There is something inside that scolds me if I’m not taking advantage of as much of... Continue Reading →
The bright side
The robins are singing again. I can't be sure that it's Julio I'm hearing out there, but whoever it is, they're greeting me through closed windows each morning, and I've missed them. As I've explored before--you know, a few times--I am slightly more dependent than the average bear on the changing seasons for my well-being.... Continue Reading →
Nourishment
What is it about time with certain authors that makes me want to write? Anne Lamott. Geneen Roth (kinda). Mike Perry. Looking at the list du jour, it seems that those who make me want to write are those who write like me, or those whom I want to write like, and on my better... Continue Reading →
Overhaul
It took conjuring up all my best and greatest obsessive tendencies, bringing to bear the entire Google Photos arsenal, and employing a shameful willingness to ignore my family and all that I love most, but the old blog has gotten a new face. You might not see it so much from here on the individual... Continue Reading →
Down the road
The wood splitter is headed down the road, back home to the West Hill. For the last time of 2018. This means, for the uninitiated, that the wood for the year is complete. Or so we hope. Every year, we think we have a better handle on what we will actually burn in the coming... Continue Reading →
Once Again…
It's fall in Wisconsin. And once again the seasons take me by the hand and calm my soul. It happens every year. Summer comes, and I am filled with hope at the coming adventures. We saturate the months with more than the suspension can comfortably hold. There is down time, but it is barely enough... Continue Reading →
Another Return
Last week, we were marveling - the kids and I - at our own dependence upon the stream of seasons we are so blessed to travel upon in Wisconsin. It was a sunny Wednesday evening, just crisp enough to confront any delusions of true spring, but plenty warm to awake in us that primal giving... Continue Reading →
A child of change
They're singing again. A January thaw is upon us, and the birds of the homestead are ecstatic. My eyes snapped open this morning as an unknown avian friend warbled out her morning greetings. Shamefully, I can't connect her voice with her face in my jumbled-up brain, and sadly, my rusty echolocation, struggling to revive from... Continue Reading →
Happy Autumn
It's August. I keep refreshing my trusty weather page, but it seems we topped out at 58 today. In August. I'm sure summer isn't over for good, but at the moment all indicators are pointing to starting the year's first fire. It's chilly in the house and my toes are having circulatory problems. The wind... Continue Reading →
God in dirt
We are a fickle creation. Capable of such amazing feats of love and mercy, yet so often stuck in judgment and vice. We may stand in awe of God's majesty when we are hit in the head with it - when it comes to us as lightening to the scalp - but so often anything... Continue Reading →