This essay in Maureen Dowd’s column ran in the New York Times on Christmas Day. Here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/opinion/dowd-why-god.html?src=me&ref=general Kevin O’Neill wrote the bulk of the column – a meditation. He’s a priest but more importantly, he’s a human being called upon to help others in a way that’s very difficult for most of [...]

I’ve got three Golden Retrievers guarding the perimeter… of my bedroom.  It’s pouring rain outside. I’m considering whether the run to retrieve the New York Times at the end of the driveway is worth it when I am so cozy. But on the plus side, I can grab another coffee when I do. Thinking. OK…be [...]

Everyday is a thanksgiving day when you have been granted more days in life than expected.  And when you think about it, had we been born yesterday in Africa or three hundred years ago anywhere, survival expectations were pretty grim. So I’m happy to have been born in America in 1957 and to have benefitted [...]

I love this blog and was happy to be asked to contribute a post during Blood Cancer Awareness Month. Here it is: http://onthewillows.com/2012/09/17/leukemia-tsunami-breath-grace-and-healing/ While you are there at On The Willows, check out other great posts about this topic from Lindsay, Amy, Vesi and more. I hope none of you ever has to deal with [...]

  On my first trip to Hawaii, I fell in love…with a sea turtle. Life below the ocean surface was amazing to me. Having never snorkeled before, I faced down my general anxiety at the idea and gamely attempted to master the skill.  I was so awkward! But awkward or not, my attempts were rewarded. [...]

I found TheJackB blog through Copyblogger last week and am enjoying it. He’s a dad and writer. He writes about life, therefore all sorts of things. His recent entry – a “look-back” – got me looking back. It’s called “Will they know me? I am going to die” and here’s the link: http://www.thejackb.com/2010/07/19/will-they-know-me-i-am-going-to-die-2/#respond Having faced [...]

It’s a little weird just how intimate the “blood” connection may feel to someone who receives blood. Everyone has a little bit of a different take on it, which you would expect because we all perceive things through a personal lens. Some people who have received a blood transfusion wave it off as no big [...]

House cleaning is not one of my favorite tasks. I like a clean house but don’t like cleaning when there’s so much else to do: Read! Run! Meet a friend! Nap! Watch a movie! Write! But at times, cleaning is necessary. Before a holiday is one of those times. Thanksgiving, guests and mother-in-law. ‘Nuff said. [...]

It’s almost October and I sit here amazed, once again, at how fast the summer flies. I love summer. The heat, the sweat, the scorching sun, starry evenings, long lit days, the feeling of endless time, endless days. (Mosquitos? Not so much.) Summer, in its typical form, showed up about three weeks ago with a [...]

The beginning of August marks a ritual gathering of the Wolfe clan in New Hampshire at Wolf Hollow – Tim and Steph’s home –  much as Labor Day used to mark the end of a summer with Cape Cod vacations and school beginnings. (August 2010) As I left California, the weekend ahead seemed to hold [...]