This week I experienced my last “first day.” My twin sons are high school seniors. I’ve already watched as their older sisters fluttered out of our nest and survived the past year of being the only … [Read more...]

Yesterday was a rainy day—not just thunderstorms-in-the-afternoon rainy but dripping-from-morning-till night wet. In the middle of a North Carolina August, that’s wonderful for our thirsty crops and … [Read more...]

Pepe was a feisty kitten. We’d had him barely three days. We’d just taken him and his brother, an orange tabby, to the vet. Our vet laughed and commented on their feistiness, smiled through the whole … [Read more...]

I just returned from Brigadoon. Remember the play? It’s about a magical village that appears for one day every year and has remained unchanged for two centuries. Deer Valley YMCA Family Camp is my … [Read more...]

I’m a book lover. I come from a family of book lovers. I married into a family of book lovers, and I’ve helped create four more.We have books all over our house. Full shelves groan, piles grow beside … [Read more...]

I've never exactly understood the idea of claiming a life verse.  Choose one verse from the entire Bible? One verse out of over 31,000 is supposed to represent every facet of my character, … [Read more...]

It's fun to try different kinds of writing styles. Today I'll share two examples of my attempts at writing Haiku. Remember that Haiku is a Japanese free verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, … [Read more...]

I’ve been studying Ephesians for a few weeks. It’s one of my favorite books in the Bible. Look at some of the phrases—Glorious grace, glorious inheritance, incomparably great power, incomparable … [Read more...]

I love the brown bread that's served at almost every pub and restaurant in Ireland. It's dense and coarse and full of whole grain flavor. I've tried several different recipes to recreate the taste but … [Read more...]