On our daily drive to school, I would take a long, winding back road lined with older houses and mature flowering trees and hardwoods. But one chilly morning, it was the scene above that grabbed our attention...
Read moreLiving, Breathing Beauty
On Saturday, I met two new people. Literally new, as in newly born, to some friends of mine. The mothers looked exhausted but still radiant somehow; the fathers looked tired but proud; everyone was all smiles...
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Daisy's House
Serenbe Inn restaurant
We called her Daisy. It was not her real name but her given name—given to her by my big sister when she was little. Daisy didn’t seem to mind, though, because she was our grandmother and we were her granddaughters. Daisy's house was a magical place...
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The Wise and the Humble
Up and down the basement stairs my husband Mart went, bringing boxes and bags filled with Christmas decorations. He stacked everything in the living room beside the newly-cut and fragrant Fraser fir. As I unwrapped precious keepsake ornaments...
Read moreThe Little Dancer
Edgar Degas, The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Her name is Marie van Goethem, and she’s a young ballet student at the Paris Opera. She stands informally in fourth position, her head back, the ribbon holding her braid dangling. Her hands are joined behind her. Her eyes are closed, her face upturned. What is she thinking about? Maybe she dreams of becoming a famous ballerina one day...
Read moreUnexpected Beauty at a Gas Station
Moody, overcast day at the animal farm
We’re driving down 1-16 toward Savannah. There’s not much on this rural stretch of Georgia highway except for trees and a few swaths of pretty pink and purple wildflowers in the median.
And a gas station that’s worth stopping for...
Read moreSomething Went Wrong in the Kitchen
Something went wrong. Go ahead and laugh. I did...
Read moreA New Season
It was a sunny, warm fall day. The late-afternoon sun was slanting through the trees in our front yard. My daughter, who was eight at the time, and I had been walking our dog.
As we went into the house, I grabbed some old kitchen shears and and a basket. “I want to show you something...”
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