At this time of the year, stores are filled with pink and red merchandise. The pressure is on to buy chocolates, a stuffed animal, or various other novelties to express love to someone. At the very least, the vast assortment of Valentine's … Read more

My summer home is in the White Mountains of Arizona, USA. Because this area is so lush in the summer, ranchers bring their cattle up from lower elevations to feast on the acres of green vegetation tucked in between the ponderosa pines and … Read more

"One UI, optimizing apps" appeared on my phone screen as it turned on. Curious as to what it meant, I looked it up and discovered that "UI" is a shortcut that stands for "user interface" — visual or audio elements that humans use to … Read more

On July 24th, 2022, our daughter's husband walked out on her, and thus began our unexpected journey. Their three-bedroom house had to be vacated and everything brought to our garage, which became wall-to-wall bins. The house needed some … Read more

As I write this, I'm watching Mama Robin sit on her second clutch of eggs this summer. Her fussing over these eggs reminds me of my dad's fussing over those hundreds of goose eggs in the hatchery in our farmhouse basement. Each day, he'd … Read more

When I finished high school, my dad asked me what I thought that I wanted to do with my life. I told him that I was interested in studying writing, being a veterinarian, working with animals, or studying theology. All were things which at … Read more

I laughed … and I laughed … and I laughed. Yet, this was no laughing matter; it was intensely grievous. I had been "thrown under the bus" through a narcissist's typical weapon: scapegoating his victim in order to conceal his … Read more

How many of us can remember the image of Charlie Brown, of the comic strip Peanuts, sitting with his back against the mailbox post? He was dismayed that he had found no note from the little red-haired girl, who was the object of his … Read more

"BE AWARE OF RATTLESNAKES AND POISON IVY!" reads a warning about hiking in the Nez-Perce Clearwater National Forest in Idaho, USA. Such a sign didn't exist when I went skipping ahead of my family on a sunny morning across the ancient … Read more

What do we do in times of uncertainty? How do we react when anxious people look to us for stability and a road map — when we don't have one? Times of uncertainty are certainly not new, but when they come, we are called upon to act in … Read more