Archive for 2016
The Woman in the Woods
Like an M. Night Shyamalan film, the title emerges: The Woman in the Woods. Photo Credit: Flckr user Nick Kenrick, Creative Commons cc license At her wooden desk layered with papers and folders, Morgan studies criss-crossed characters of Mandarin Chinese. In isolated pieces called radicals, she sees the term for female, and other radicals multiply…
Read MoreWhen You Find Yourself Red-Faced and Hot at the Woodfire
In between sticky smores, sandy swimsuits, and splashes in the crisp Mississippi River headwaters, it washed off: the weight of everyday life. Hamburger hobo stews wrapped in tin foil oozed steaming carrot and potato juices. We smelled of wood fires and mosquito repellent. Hiking through bogs on wooden boardwalks, slapping mosquitoes, hypothesizing which “leaves of…
Read MoreGrab Your Ugly Socks!
With a clatter and a crash, the phone slipped off the treadmill dashboard, careened off the moving belt, and skidded to a stop in the carpet behind me. I glanced left and right. Lithe joggers ran in precise form, their arms knowing how to cycle in smooth arcs, not flailing wildly like mine. Photo Credit:…
Read MoreWhen Grief Stalks
Cinnamon coffeecake plunges high up my plastic fork while brown sugar topping flakes and tumbles from the top. Espresso grinders whir loud then fade to the music from overhead speakers. Three inch pink baby shoes glide by in a black stroller; purple sippy handles peak from a stroller’s corner. Wooden coffeehouse chairs scrape and clunk…
Read MoreWhen You Just Want to DO Something!
He’s leaning over the table, mouth open in concentration. Two stacks of soft white socks brush his elbow as he reaches over them. “Look!” he exclaims, proudly wriggling the toilet paper roll down into the gallon ziplock bag. Two water bottles stand erect beside it. He pauses and I slide two folded pieces of paper…
Read MoreIn the Muggy Nights after a Month of Headlines
I remember it, how the air was hot even though it was September 2007 and how Mark had crossed the stage, his shoulders carrying the pain. Photo Credit: Flickr user Mick Baker Rooster, Creative Commons, cc license Photo Credit: Flickr user David, Creative Commons, cc license His voice softer than normal, he had smiled at…
Read MoreOf Fish, and Friends, and Fresh-Cut Grass: Freezing Summer Fast
Can you hear it? Burring and whirring hums drone a scratchy constant as our backyard neighbor mows. The sound and fragrance are comforting and peaceful, one of summer’s iconic pleasures. Tracing the contours of his yard, my neighbor’s lawnmower rumbles and roars, releasing the sweet green scent of sliced grass. My sprinkler arcs languidly across…
Read MoreAn Apology to my Twenty- and Thirty-Year Old Friends
They said it over half-price appetizers, and the taste of it went all salty in my mouth. They spoke of feeling less than, less equal, less valuable, and pushed aside as women in the church. Photo Credit: Flickr User, trawets1, Creative Commons, cc license We reached across each other to taste a half-price miniature pizza,…
Read MoreYour Cartoon Pig Card
Over a crunchy Asian salad of Napa cabbage, green lettuces, red peppers, and sugar snap peas drizzled in a fresh cilantro dressing, she handed me the card. Grinning and arching an eyebrow at me, she waited, her wavy brown hair tucked behind an ear. (Scanned card. Design courtesy of cards by Sunrisegreetings.com) Inside the envelope,…
Read MoreWhen Prayer Looks Like Soup
Sitting beside my squirrelly seven year old, I helped him sound out long-vowel words and watched the clock, the seconds flying past. At eight-thirty in the morning, I was at the kitchen sink, swirling yesterday’s coffee grounds out of the French press and into my compost bucket. Time spun and circled down the garbage disposal…
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