Thanksgiving, Writing, the Kitchen Sink and Other Rituals

Grandmother’s Kitchen Sometimes I’m paralyzed by the idea that I can recall so few specifics about my grandmother. She was a cook undaunted by crowds lining up outside our church—serving three hundred or more in a night with her massive … Continue reading

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Photo Essay: Southwest Seasonal Farmers Market Bounty

This gallery contains 7 photos.

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Old Bottles, Time Capsules, and Going Home

 Walking into the backyard this weekend, I was intrigued to see my thirteen-year-old kneeling under the grapefruit tree, digging. “What are you doing?” I asked. “I’m planting a time capsule,” she said. I smiled at the word “planting.”  It seemed … Continue reading

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St. Martin’s – Lighting the Season and Adopting Holidays

“…[a]lluding to the snows of that season, the Germans say that “St Martin comes riding on a white horse.”[1] Mid-November marks one of my favorite adopted holidays. Why adopted? My husband is German. And while we Americans share many holidays … Continue reading

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Then and Now. Pekin, New York

Then: Traveling East on Upper Mountain Road: Hope United Methodist Church. The stones used to build this church–known for many years as Pekin United Methodist Church–were cut from the Niagara escarpment, which runs through my family farm. Knowing this only … Continue reading

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Airplane Conversations and the Geography of Heart

What is it about air travel that strips you of something of yourself?  That allows you to open up with a passing stranger that otherwise wouldn’t happen?  What is it? On a recent flight, I sat next to another woman … Continue reading

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Meteor Mornings and Motorcycle Rides

My eyes locked on the hot white streak in the sky in front of me.  Saturday morning. Up before the birds, I was walking to the south.  I couldn’t believe it: the streak grew into a fireball rimmed with brilliant … Continue reading

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