Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up at Chick-fil-A two days after Thanksgiving, looking totally relaxed. Perhaps all their holiday cookies are made and in the freezer; presents are wrapped and ready to go. Now their only job is to greet…
I could wax into the night about how horses are faster, and camels travel long distances through the desert with less water, but to no avail. Every year, my three kids would each clamor for the elephant, each claiming they…
One of my last sweet memories of my dad is of him poking out of my van’s skylight with his camera. He was working on a painting of a salt marsh, and he wanted me to drive him out to…
"Memory is the sense of loss, and loss pulls us after it. God Himself was pulled after us into the vortex we made when we fell, or so the story goes. And while He was on earth He mended families.…
Life at the cabin has a different cadence. We know this, and yet somehow it continues to surprise us. We drive north a few hours for a week away, but ideally, the cabin feels a million miles and a hundred…
Saturday was National Hammock Day. Not that I needed encouraging. I own three. I’m a fan of Hatteras Hammocks, the traditional cotton rope with an oak spreader. My favorite is a single hammock on our screen porch. I nap in…
Sending flowers to a funeral is the easy way out. With one quick click online, you've picked an appropriate arrangement to be conveniently delivered. There for the world to see is your name on a card tucked neatly among the flowers. Voilà, grief…
I admit it. I’m totally obsessed with Robert Anderson’s Kaleidoscopes. My first encounter was in Scottsdale Arizona at the Camelback Inn Resort & Spa. There it was, right at the entrance, a large atomic steel kaleidoscope with a colorful garden…
In the very first book of the Bible, we discover something essential about hospitality. It’s not optional. When strangers pass by Abraham and Sarah’s dwelling, Abraham quickly provides provisions, food and drink, a place to wash and stay. In Abraham’s…
Fr. Tim Power was a Catholic priest and pastor of Pax Christi Catholic Church from 1981-2004. My pastor, to be specific. When friends mentioned that Fr. Tim’s headstone had been placed, I wanted to visit. The timing, Memorial Day weekend,…
