Baa Baa, Black Sheep

I’m baa-ck! I’d like to bleat every detail of my trip, but I’m too tired. Upon my return to U.S. soil two weeks ago, my days transformed from seeing sheep on every hillside to nights spent counting them in a desperate attempt to adjust to the time difference. My cousin Emily was also in Ireland …

The Tower

Author's note: I am headed to Ireland early next week with my mother Kate--my sister Ann will join us, along with many cousins, aunts, and uncles for an informal family reunion. I haven't been back to the ould sod in 21 years, and I am pumped--for brown bread, the best cream in the world, 19 …

Tennis, Anyone?

When you accomplished a hard-won goal, how did you celebrate? By jumping up and down? Draining a glass of fine champagne? Screaming for joy? Or did you eat grass? Me neither. But that’s how tennis player Novak Djokovic, ranked number seven in the world, prefers to celebrate a big win. Granted, he chews the green …

Making a Change in a Nation of Gavels and Guns

Trigger warning: this column refers to violent events--both real and fiction. My husband and I just finished watching Night Sky, a quirky series on Prime starring Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons. Spacek is one of my favorite actresses and she has been on a lot of television in the last several years: i.e., Bloodline, Castle …

An Encouraging Word: Part 2–Becoming Encouragers

Author’s note: I’m putting a pin in a promised post: I was caught up in an online poetry forum yesterday and did not get to my piece on Priscilla who possibly authored Hebrews (gosh, I do love alliteration, especially when its use is unplanned). I hate not keeping my promises, so I will not pledge …

We Storm the Building

We Storm the Building As dutiful soldiers We march into the yard We've trained with no weapons Yet daily stand guard We storm the building Each morning at eight Bulky backpacks a burden But we’re never late Our troops line the hallways First-graders salute Parading to classrooms In khakis and boots The clang of the …

Word to the Wise Will Return June 2!

Hi friends, I'm putting down my pen for about two weeks while I meet some important deadlines personally and professionally. Thursday Thunk will return on June 2 and Word to the Wise's Monday post on June 6. In the meantime, I pray peace upon your household and all who enter it. True peace is needed …

Thursday Thunk: Downsizing, Downton-Style

It is no secret to family and friends that one of my favorite series of recent years is Downton Abbey. In fact, during one Christmas season, any time that I was baking dozens of scones for customers of my (very) small home-based bakery or preparing meals for company, I kept the six seasons rolling on …

An Encouraging Word: Part 1

Most of us probably remember the famous song about the 1800s American West, "Home on the Range." When I was growing up, this song could be heard everywhere—radio, television, elementary classrooms, etc. I guess that is why it's burned into my brain. As a child, the lyrics conveyed to me a vague sense of place …

Thursday Thunk: Paring Down

In 2015, my book group kicked off our sixth year together by reading Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (I think it's hilarious that a book about minimalist living has such a cluttered title). The book had a lot of haters in our group. Yet, …

Ignorance Is Not Bliss: The False Comfort of Denial

In 2018, an Ohio man, a former Nike executive and digital commerce expert, admitted to the New York Times he was ignorant. It was unusual. People these days enjoy being seen as experts (even when they are most certainly not)—in our day and age, knowledge is power.* The truth is that Erik Hagerman wasn’t dumb, …

HG: It’s Not Your Mother’s Morning Sickness

“He’s at the door!” I said to my friend in the passenger seat as I eased my van to the curb outside the emergency room entrance. “Thank you,” she said, her voice shaking.  “No need. I’m glad to help you in any way,” I assured her. “And I’ll be praying.” Her husband ran up and …

Got Wisdom? Part 3

When you ponder current problems in the U.S., which issues come to mind? The pandemic? Poverty? Poorly performing public schools? Political divisions? (P is for problem, apparently!) Or how about violence against women, racism and discrimination, or sexual harassment? Any of these might top your list for the top concern of the day. Did counterfeiting …

Thursday Thunk: “I Thunk it Up”

When I was a wee girl, I wrote a lot of poetry. Unlike Charlotte Bronte, physical evidence of my brilliant young mind is lost to the ravages of time and disinterested adults (apparently! But I am not bitter...). In first grade, so the story goes, I presented a poem to my beloved teacher, Miss Kinnin. …

Got Wisdom? Part 2

How Do We Cultivate Wisdom? Let’s dive into Proverbs chapter 9. As in the first eight chapters of Proverbs, Wisdom is personified as a female. This is not because women are wiser than men. The author (likely Solomon) may have done so because the Hebrew word for wisdom is a feminine noun. Verse 1          Wisdom …

Got Wisdom?

Cultivating Wisdom Part I. A few years ago, a celebrity moved into the neighborhood where we lived at the time. Once word got out, this circumstance became both cool and annoying: cool, because he lived right by our house, and annoying, because he lived right by our house. On most days, cars drove by slowly, …

Tall People are Annoying (So I’ve Been Told)

On a long drive to Michigan a week ago, my husband and I listened to various radio stations (yeah, we’re boomers who still like to play radio roulette instead of having a reliable playlist—it makes life more exciting). One announcer became quite animated over the summer solstice, which was occurring that day. Most of us …

Birthday on the Brain

This past weekend was my birthday. I don’t make a big deal about it usually; becoming much older much faster than I anticipated as a once young boomer does not make me want to release balloons skyward or dive into a thick slice of birthday cake that takes a full marathon for this now older …