Honoring the journey—then and now
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Finding Silence: A Quaker’s Refuge in a Catholic Adoration Chapel
I’m not Catholic. But I’ve come to appreciate several elements of Catholicism. With the closest unprogrammed–or silent–Quaker meeting about 30 minutes away, sometimes I need a dose of Catholicism, or at least my version. Unprogrammed Friends meetings near me are hard to find these days. I know of only two within an hour’s drive. To…
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Making Reading Basics a Little Easier
A student’s age didn’t matter to Mary Jane and Lizzie when they taught freedmen in Mississippi. Kindergarten-age children through adults flocked to the new schoolhouses to learn to read. They were so motivated that some local whites began to fear that the blacks might become more educated than their own children! But it wasn’t easy.…
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Podcast 4: I hate the Facebook hoops!
What’s going on with all this Facebook publicity? Why do I have to wave my hat and draw attention to myself?
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Diary Entry: Wednesday, January 24, 1866
Last night we had quite a shower of rain, and this morning the weather is cool again and remained so all day. I had fifty scholars at school today, suffered with the headache considerably yesterday and last night… -Mary Jane Edwards, writing in Jackson, Mississippi…
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Remember our farming ancestors in winter
We think we have it bad this weekend with the snowfall and frigid temperatures. But a massive winter storm – idyllic though Currier & Ives make it appear in their 1868 “American Homestead Winter” – would have been a huge challenge for my ancestors, Mary Jane and Lizzie Edwards and anyone who lived on a…
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Would sage help my American Girl clothes?
I may have to light some dried sage and waft its smoke over the little red-striped cotton pajamas! I’m afraid they’ve absorbed a lot of negativity.
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I’m a 7 seeking balance
Since the start of December, I’ve been at two extremes: flitting around like a nervous flea or making dents in the family room sofa cushions. It’s been a weird couple of months. During the typical prep weeks before Christmas, we unexpectedly raced to California and back. We pressed hard, making the 4,000-plus-mile trip in seven…
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What’s happened to winter?
Bunkhouse. U-shaped dinette. Under 4,000 pounds. Murphy bed. Sadly, my website filter settings have yielded few local results this week as I’ve been combing through RV sales websites. We’re ready to escape the Indiana winter and replace it with balmy temperatures. A low of 50 degrees would be perfect. We’d even take 40 degrees, now…
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Capturing a bracing winter in haiku
The click of her leash. The squeak of the garage door. Brutal wind whips past.
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A Sadly Apt Haiku
Empty plates linger. Snowflakes whirl past slatted blinds. Superflu Christmas!
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