A beautiful, unrelenting foe

Creation / Ordinary Life

In the late sixties we moved from Minnesota to New Mexico. Perhaps because we were used to the rich black soil of the Plains,…

Creation Turned Bad

Creation / Spirituality

Bill Gates recently included a fascinating graphic on his blog to highlight the deadliness of mosquito borne illnesses, a problem the Gates Foundation is…

When Creation Cries Out

Creation / Spirituality

Above me, in the boughs of a massive white pine a blue jay is objecting to my presence. He screams, flies off to do…

The Solace of Asparagus

Creation / Family / Hospitality / Safe Place / Spirituality

[Note: “This article originally appeared on June 19, 2009 in Comment, a publication of CARDUS: www.cardus.ca.”] The first meal I prepared for the man…

Surprised by Age

Creation / Family / Ordinary Life

When I was visiting my daughter, her son Mason, who was seven, quietly took her aside and said, “Mom, could I ask White-haired Grandma…

Random Meaning

Creation / Ordinary Life / Work and Rest

Fearing randomness meaningfully This past weekend I did nothing and it was profoundly productive. We spent the weekend away from Toad Hall, away from…

Over the Rainbow

Community / Creation / Maturity and Flourishing / Ordinary Life / Work and Rest

Over The Rainbow Something died in the guts of our house. As it ripened and decayed, Denis searched for it in among the cobwebs…

Tsunami Crash

Creation / Hospitality

Tsunami Crash My husband may have had cause to find a concubine. Of course, I would have ignored the cause and made him my…

A One-Way Trip Into Space

Creation / Culture

“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new…

Faster

Creation / Ordinary Life / Safe Place / Work and Rest

Faster [This essay first appeared in the December 1999 issue of Notes From Toad Hall.] December is a bad month for speed and stress.…