Honoring the journey—then and now
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A rough night
At the Abbey A Rough Night I heard the bells call the monks at Vigils and briefly considered rousing myself to join them. I didn’t. I prayed instead, requesting comfort for my loved ones. At Lauds, the bells clanged again. I counted, but lost track. Were they fainter, or was I exhausted from fretting and…
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An age-old journey
This week, I’ve been in Kentucky on a silent, unprogrammed retreat at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. Trappist monks have lived here in silence since 1848, their charge to worship God and welcome visitors in the Benedictine tradition. Gethsemani Abbey is well known as the former home of the contemplative monk and writer…
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A teacher’s Saturday
on Spring Break Pull off the mask of monotony, the cloak of routine, and allow the joyful voice of your hidden heart to sing with gleeful abandon. Dance! Fling your arms wide to embrace the fresh day with its newly scrubbed face of opportunity. Then wrap the shawl of serenity around your sturdy shoulders that…
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The Baumpies arrive
A shaft of moonbeam pierced the upper pane of glass, so bright that as it hit my face, I thrashed, untangling my restless legs from the crisp percale that imprisoned them. Wadded now where the foot of my bed met the sloping ceiling, my sheets released me to the light’s magnetic pull. Cool, rough floorboards…
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Adulting isn't easy
Even at my age! The weather is deliciously warm today, with a high in the 60s. There’s not a cloud in the sky- a perfect spring Hoosier day, albeit somewhat early. Too bad it had to be ruined. After my husband left to run errands this afternoon, I let the pup into the back yard…
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Who threw the cheese?
Kids and Their Secrets The errant slice of American cheese that ended up on the bathroom floor has baffled all investigators for more than fifty years. Its softened edges, missing corner, and sweaty surface reside far back in my brain’s mystery album. Not a single one of us four kids admitted to tossing it beside…
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Sage-ing wisely
How did I ever do it all? How do any good teachers do so much? How do they hang in there in the long stretch from January to spring break? Giving, giving, giving– living, really— for their students to pass the holy spring tests? Only two years ago, I was busy planning weekly lessons all…
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Am I a history snob?
Once again, I’m reading a historical novel. They’re my go-to in the Libby filters when I’m searching for a new online freebie read. My setting preference is 1800’s United States. That’s probably because of the novel series I’m writing based on the diary of my Quaker ancestors during Reconstruction. Or the fact that I taught…
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My new invasive species: AI
It’s February and my seed catalog browsing has ended. I‘ve decided to create a native perennial flower bed along a neglected side of the house and even have the seed packets in hand. Now it’s time to consider where each plant will spend the summer at my house. Writing the names of the plants on…
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