[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
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
“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.…
To Be Where You Are
Community / Creation / Family / Ordinary Life
Spring was cancer season for friends. (You might want to cancel friendship with us.) When Kosmo (Carol Kosmicke) began to experience little seizures and…
The Joy of Bees
A long time ago when our children were young and we lived in Albuquerque, Denis traveled a lot. The reason I mention he traveled…
Bird Feeders
A few months back a young couple spent a weekend with us at Toad Hall. Scott had graciously come to help us plaster and…