21
Jan 5, 2018
Late afternoon, as the light begins to die after an afternoon finger-wrapped around steaming mugs and my kids home early–bursting through the door with a weather report, I put the glittering sign on the mantle, Let it Snow. The letters glow, burnished and glinting with warm light. This time of year, I think about people who […]
22
Dec 15, 2017
In the picture, taken all-smiles just after the coronation, our Queen stands twinkling in her strappy, snowy dress. Somewhere else maybe she would not have been a royal, but here, we celebrate her, and with her the two kings by her side. The kingdom belongs to such as these (Mark 10:14), and if ever I’ve […]
23
Jan 13, 2017
It really wasn’t until we turned into the neighborhood—5 minutes, maybe, from home–that the ice really made me nervous.  An hour and a half away, we’d started to see a dusting, just bits of dazzling white in the grass; here and there, a glassy ditch or frozen puddle. If it’s like this here, Zoe murmured then, […]
24
Feb 26, 2016
I have kept my shoes on all afternoon for just this mad-rushing, this quick gathering—the blankets slipping from my arms. “Come on, you guys, come on,” Zoe says, and we hurry to huddle in the dark, pressing our bodies into each other. They say that the best place to be in the wind-ripping event of […]
25
Jan 22, 2016
Late afternoon and the light begins to fade, and we widen the gaps in the window blinds, tugging the dangling strings with our fingers. Â Usually, I close up the house instead; slide the curtains closed against the coming dark, press my fingers flat against the chilled window panes. Â Tonight though, I switch on the lamps […]
26Feb 27, 2015
Snow falls, and the gathering white arrests our attention.  Somewhere between bacon sizzling and deftly wacking the eggs against the clear bowl with the tiny chip just there, my phone rings.  An automated message from the school system.  The voice comes through just a little too loud, and I lift my coffee cup (poured steamy the second […]
27Dec 5, 2014
“Don’t come into the kitchen,” she says, rushing over to me as I walk in the door, as Adam squeezes past and dumps his bag on the table, emptying it of its contents. Â “It’s a surprise…Don’t come in.” I close my mama mouth and smile, even though I’m thinking that I already know the surprise—she’s […]
28Jan 10, 2014
By the time we make it to the greenway, it’s late morning. Â I unload a bike for Adam—a beach cruiser, because he likes to keep things uncomplicated, and then I hand the girls their scooters. Â The air is brisk, but the sun burns bright, and ahead of us, the sky is brilliant cerulean, almost sapphire. […]
29Jan 3, 2014
Raindrops meander down the windowpanes this afternoon, blurring my view. All day I watched those clouds fill, watched them turn their heavy gray, and now the emptying makes thin spaces for light. From all the sharp cracking, the twisting of tree limbs, the lurking dark, a new sky will come, and soon. New always, always […]
30Dec 30, 2011
I have this thing about white lights in Winter. For a few lingering weeks, after the Christmas decorations have been packed away for another year, white lights will still flicker and blink warm here, winking at me, reminding me that the magic is always, not just for a season. Â Here and there, a bit of […]