Singing in the Rain (and Fog)
Will it never end? We’ve been living in a fog for so long I’ve lost count of the days. The ground is so saturated from rains I squish my way to the barn, thinking my front lawn has now become a bog. I feel like I’m starting to mold! We’re staring down July 4 a week away […]
A Field Trip to Remember
I picked her up at 4 PM sharp, that precious daughter of ours. Through all these past tough weeks of trying to stabilize thoughts and emotions, she went to work cleaning up others’ messes and just the plain old dirt that accumulates in life. At least the messes she cleans CAN be cleaned up. Some […]
After the Storm
The day before was a perfect Wisconsin day—sunny, low eighties, completely still. I could hear the spring peepers still out in our ponds and the barn swallow hatchlings in their nests as mamas flew in with their meal. But weather often changes fast around here. It rolled in last night after dark. A low rumble […]
A Mother’s Lament on Father’s Day
Father’s Day. We all went to church together—that little country Orthodox Presbyterian church up the road in our little Dutch community. We’re not Dutch and in a place where the funny motto, “If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much” floats around, we sure do feel welcomed here in this old church. They’re the kind of […]
Greatest Expectations
My first memory from childhood was of myself in a seersucker jumpsuit my grandmother had sewn for me. I was four years old, laying on my stomach in our backyard, hunting for a four-leafed clover. My sister was ill. Very, very ill. I was looking for luck. Mom and Dad arranged for Dad’s mom to […]
Independence Day
Today is Independence Day—for one I love deeply. But that independence has been blurred for so long—too long . . . Hopes for family and a dog and a white picket fence—they can blur reality beyond just a bit. Too many long and grueling years spent with one who is not meant for marriage yet, […]
God’s Not Dead
It’s June. High school graduation parties are in full swing. It’s summer. We have four weddings in two months coming up—one right here on our farm on June 28 with horses in the background and wildflowers on the tables, tucked into vintage blue Mason jars. Pinterest perfection with a Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice ambience. […]
Taped
She picked a daffodil. As the farmer from down the road drove his tractor through our south field, she and I strolled through the front gardens together smelling spring flowers. The one she picked? Flower head drooped, stem bent close to the top. We can relate, these days. She raised the golden trumpet to her […]