espresso yourself! 

This Christmas I am living quite nearby the town where I was born.  I’ve had the chance to do a drive-by gazing, passing the home where my grandparents hosted our family celebrations each year when I was young…and where my cousins and brother and I would be tossed together to play like the fondest of…

Positives from pain… Steadiness as we shake off the fairy dust of expectation Standing up after being knocked down over and over again in small and big ways Picking up and moving on into this day Assured that life is what we make of it Collecting and sharing treasure With all the moments of our…

My annual Christmas Cry eyes puffy and I feel spent …spent in the way one feels after going way over budget on Christmas gifts.  This sorrow that haunts me the Ghost of Christmas Past is a gift of its own The glow of this season has been the lighthouse in a very stormy life from…

NOTE: This saved draft is something I wrote just as I was settling in.  My enthusiasm for the new adventure had not waned at that point, obviously!  No angsty reflections had risen to the surface, lol.  My vision of how things would go was similar, but not equal, to how it’s actually playing out.  It’s…

Agh!!  I miss my people.  I have family in Germany, Texas, Virginia, and Kansas…including 5 adult children and 6 young grandchildren.  I want the ideal of Walton’s Mountain where multiple generations share the ups and downs of life at least on the same property.  I know someone who has that and I must admit to…

Kitsch is defined as low-brow style of mass produced art.  I think it describes something much more entertaining when it comes to the art of putting words and meanings together.  It’s silly and fun.  A particularly corny idea came to me the other morning… I dabble at arts and crafts and there is a piece…

Soon I will become a traveler.  In October I will give up my apartment for the open road.  We live in a time when quite often members of a family live in different areas of the country or even world.  I looked up from my everyday list of things to do and realized that…

Originally posted on Hughs Wordquilts: ? ? ( Remembering Mary Ellen Townsend Harris, 1911-2016) The ancient psalmist wrote, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff–they comfort me.” ( Psalm 23:4 NRSV) Paul’s death was the darkest valley Mary had been through.  Her…

This year in Texas our winter was very short.  Some have commented we didn’t have one at all.  I think of it as having a delightfully long Spring.  Seasons in life aren’t always as we expect them to be either.  As April fades to memory May ushers in a change of season again for me…. 

I don’t have time to find a picture this morning.  I feel like I’m living life on a surf board trying to stay ahead of (or with?)  the wave.  I don’t know how surfing works but that is the mental image that comes to mind when I do an internal status check.  Balance!  That’s a…