My Wandering Pen. Blog Thoughts.
"Not all those who wander are lost."– J.R.R. Tolkein
Consider the Cicada
image from npr.org It is the season of the cicadas here in my Southwest Virginia mountain town. I’d never heard of cicadas until moving out East. It is one more thing I love about this part of the country. My first introduction to cicadas was in 2004—our first full...
On C.S. Lewis, receiving the spring, & this Holy Week
Never before have I been more comforted by the proof of spring’s coming outside my window. I know I’ve written about it adnoseum. I guess it’s because I am always surprised by its transforming on the landscape where I now live. On the prairie there were trees—one here...
Tree Roots, Birth-pangs, & Mothering Sunday: A COVID-19 Post
March 22, 2020 So…here we are. Outside my window, the fruit trees are in full, cotton pink bloom. The oak in my front yard is cast in hazy rust-colored buds. My grass is turning patchy green. It will need tending soon. The sun is finally pushing through days of cloud...
My favorite photo of 2019
Happy 2020! I'm sure you've heard it, or read it or thought it a hundred times already this year, but here it is again: Time really is flying by. I remember ushering in the year 2000--a young 20-something, dewy new mama--thinking, "Gosh, imagine how old I'll be twenty...
Coming Home to Children’s Literature
I am enrolled this fall in a children’s literature course at Hollins. I’ve been slowly picking my way through classes in Hollins MALS program: Masters of Arts and Liberal Studies. My focus is—shocking—all things literature. Immersing myself if children’s literature...
On writing books, trips overseas, launching another child, and the blessing of Afterwards
So, why the long internet silence? What has been happening these past months of shuttered web-windows? Well, all the things I mentioned above. Also, hitting pause so I recognize the blessing of Afterwards... The most obvious reason for my long blogging silence was the...
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...
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