living in light of eternity
Seems to me there are two ways to handle the Thanksgiving feast this week without gaining a million pounds: there’s the less plan and the more plan. The less plan says less fat, fewer carbs, no fried food (hello, exploding turkey fryer!), and for Pete’s sake, no pie. The other plan says more. Give me... Continue Reading →
We are staying in a swiss-style chalet in Estes Park this week. If I set out walking, I could get lost in thousands of acres of pine forest, maybe get up close and personal with some elk. But I'm sitting by the fire, drawn like a moth. I remember sitting by a fire at about... Continue Reading →
People sometimes want to know what it is like to live on the full-time financial support of others. Isn't there a better way? Grants, say, or the insurance payout from accidental dismemberment? The very idea of raising support gives most people the heebie-jeebies, and when one's son or daughter is contemplating a life of service,... Continue Reading →
Deborah Nucotola couldn't have come up with a better idea herself! A MODEST PROPOSAL by Dr. Jonathan Swift, 1729 For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick. It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through... Continue Reading →
I’m fascinated by the way books have the power to shape us. I say “have the power to” because clearly not all books succeed in this mission (or even want to. Don’t think Danielle Steele ever wanted to change the world!) But certain remarkable books sweep across a culture with tsunami force. Some leave a... Continue Reading →
This is how to remember: square your shoulders, tell the truth. Face it bravely. Ask hard questions. Ask lots of questions, why and how and who, what if. Listen to the stories. Put yourself in that position, ask yourself, what would I do? How would I feel? This is how to remember: not just one... Continue Reading →
He is holding out on me. This thought, for a split second, seemed to me utterly improbable. My friend, the gardener, had walked with me through fields of flower, knelt with me streamside and shown me mysteries of nature, picked with me bushels of fruit. My trusted friend could not possibly be keeping secrets, could... Continue Reading →
We're all up to our necks in it: deadlines, bills, school supplies, car repairs, health concerns, the neighbor's noisy music, that stinky something in the refrigerator that's gone bad and can't be located. And when we're personally standing firm and holding fast, others around us are drowning. Look to your right and left at the... Continue Reading →
A couple of weeks ago, we watched an old movie with the kids. First time in maybe twenty years I’d seen it. Our oldest son had been talking about space, aliens, galaxies far, far away. Could there be life out there, somewhere? So we rented E.T., popped some corn, settled back. As with all old... Continue Reading →
Three houses we've bought together, three mortgages, three front doors to hang a wreath, three ovens to bake birthday cakes (sixty four cakes in fifteen years, oh my), three streets to call home, lots of crazy neighbors. (Crazy Darryl and The Crazy Carpet Lady take the cake. Put those two in a room together and... Continue Reading →
Catherine's Letters 