My Wandering Pen. Blog Thoughts.
"Not all those who wander are lost."– J.R.R. Tolkein
A New Website…On making old endeavors new again.
A new website. Wow. I hope I do well with it. For the past nine months (maybe more?) I’ve been working with a professional website designer (Thanks, Christian!) to create a new, “more official” website home where I can be visited online. I won’t lie. The whole process...
Learning to Play and 'Consider the Lilies'
I am about three months from the deadline of my first book-length manuscript. What never felt like an expanse of time, but at least seemed “down the road a-ways,” is now three steps from a wall I’m walking into....
Traveling in Spring
One of the things I love about traveling to other parts of the country in fall and spring is seeing the way the seasons roll across the land east to west—like the sun, only slower. A few weekends ago I...
Participating. A Good Friday Meditation
“It. Is. Finished.” The final set of lights in the sanctuary went black. The Book slammed shut. The congregation filed out of the sanctuary and left the church in complete silence. This is how my childhood church participated in Good Friday. I’m sure this is how they...
Signs of Life in the Dust
I can see it. For the past couple weeks, I’ve noticed the pointed shoots of green poking through last year’s decayed flowers, that littering my garden beds and back porch pots. I look out my windows and see the beginnings of rusty purple gauze lacing the bare branches...
How does a Place Become More than a Place? (or, Happy 89th, Texas Tavern!)
This week (Wednesday, the 13th to be exact) marks the 89th birthday of a very special place in my community: The Texas Tavern. The Texas Tavern is a matchbox-sized, shotgun-style diner situated in the heart of downtown Roanoke (depending on where you consider...
Winds, a New Year, & Right-mindedness
Today the landscape out my front window is still and an icy shade of blue. The light coating of snow on the mountains has finally gone by the way (though, clearly not when I took the above picture, last week). According to my local news station's weather app, by...
Artifacts of Advent: Farm Light and Shepherd Joy
The pink candle was always my favorite. It also was most confusing to me. Pink for Shepherds? For Joy? Shouldn’t pink be for Angels and Love? Still I wonder about it. But, maybe pink for Joy makes sense. With Joy comes light that shines out—just as the pink...
Artifacts of Advent: A Different Kind of Stable
One of the benefits of growing up on a farm is understanding what it is really like to be “born in a stable” and “lain in a manger.” I was reminded of this—strangely—by our recent snow. Snow here in December—yes, even in the mountains—is somewhat unusual. At least a...
Artifacts of Advent: A Casserole Sandbox
It started with a box of sand. A casserole pan, to be exact. I vaguely remember my mother trying different containers before landing on the worn but sturdy 9x11 metal pan. One year was an old gift box for clothing. Another year, a shoe box leftover from my...
Artifacts of Advent: A New Series
Advent: a coming into being (Webster’s) a coming or arrival of someone or something that is worthy of note (American Heritage) the four weeks between Christmas and Thanksgiving when approximately 60-80 hours preparation work is added atop daily living for a...
On Monarch Migration & the Butterfly Effect
They are gone now. It has turned cold and I imagine they need warmer air for their transcontinental travels. But while they were here, they were glorious. Flutterings of burnt orange flame topsy-turvy on wind currents; whispering between invisible particles of air...
On New Family Beginnings (or, The Post I Couldn't Write Last Year…)
I was standing at the Welcome Counter right outside the double doors to our church’s sanctuary. It was my day to greet folks and “be the face” of St. John Lutheran for visitors. It was the end of service; I was repeating my “Bye, have a great week!” when she came...
Vacation 2018: An AAR…Or, Learning Old Things in New Ways
My readers with military connections will appreciate (or at least recognize) the acronym in my title. ‘AAR’ means After Action Report. Admittedly it’s a rather dull title. It’s uncreative and systematic sounding, especially considering what I am aiming for in writing...
On Receiving Time
On my way home from Crossfit yesterday morning, I passed a man walking to the library. I was on a back, between-the-mountains road—my favorite kind to drive. It follows a creek that twists and winds through a low point between hills. One side of the road is a rocky...
Discovering a New Language in NYC
Several weekends ago, I was in New York City with my husband. It has become an annual affair—three years running now. And you know I won’t let him forget this tradition he’s begun. I love the city. I love to soak in all the city offers, then leave it and come home to...
An Easter Blessing From My Kitchen to Yours
Finally. Spring has sprung in my part of Appalachia. The flowering trees all over town and in my yard are filled out with their milky white and pink tinged flowers. The mountainsides have taken on a rusty amber glow; evidence of tree buds lining branches. Soon the...
On Facebook Tributes & Imagining a Different Social Media
Recently, while wasting time on social media, I ran across something that changed my time wasting into time eternal. It was a Facebook post written by one of my dear writing friends, Cynthia Beach. In it, she paid tribute to a deceased fellow she never knew well—other...
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