Chocolate is my favorite sweet treat. Sometimes I will have a bit while reading a book. But that is dangerous. Chocolate tends to melt on fingers and soon there is a smudge on a page that must be quickly addressed. My worst disaster with a book was not caused by…
Today is the final day of our local farmer’s market. It is a pleasant outing and I go almost every week to purchase fresh produce. I will miss it. Many of the vendors had crates of apples. The apples are beautiful and abundant this year. I was delighted to find…
One definition of capacity refers to leadership: legal qualification, competency, power, or fitness. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services, and he has angered and upset people. Why? At one time Kennedy was involved, as a lawyer, in environmental issues. Parents of vaccine…
The apples are abundant this fall. The trees on the old farmland were heavy with fruit.
My husband, my sister and I spent a week in Upper Michigan, enjoying the brisk breeze bringing the fall season. Each day the color of fluttering leaves became more vibrant. It was a visual treat as we worked—we had chores to do because we were closing the house for the…
Standing on High Places is a biography of Hannah Hurnard written by Isabel Anders. Hannah Hurnard wrote the allegory of a Christian’s life titled Hinds’ Feet on High Places. Anders follows Hannah’s life from her choice to follow Jesus and her decision to pursue mission work. She began evangelical outreach in…
Over the summer I have been reading the Psalms. I have noticed several themes. In a majority of Psalms, God’s steadfast love is mentioned. When great difficulties occur, the psalmist cries out to the Lord for help. The Psalms acknowledge that God is sovereign. This morning I was reading Psalm…
In the last years of my Mom’s and my Dad’s life, they experienced memory loss. They struggled to remember names of friends and sometimes family members. But they remembered the words of hymns that they had sung over the years. There are hymns that linger in my memory, associated with…
Life on earth is an adventure. We experience both joy and sorrow. Sometimes we encounter very difficult challenges—illness within the family, loss of a job, tragedies caused by extreme weather, death of a loved one. My brother’s illness was a crisis in my family. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia when…
Two books that I have read recently were pleasant stories developed around historical figures. The stories wove historical facts and settings together. I could read a few chapters before bed and think about the characters. Mount Vernon Love Story by Mary Higgins Clark was first published in 1968 and republished in…