I watch the birds nesting near my home. Are they OK? Will a House Sparrow kill the Bluebird babies like it killed the Tree Swallows? I saved one newborn Swallow out of six in that nest. Then there are the Mourning Doves in a nest of sticks in the rain gutter outside my bedroom window. […]

Last week, I came home from town to find Pat sitting on my back porch. I expected her, but not so early. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t home when she arrived. We don’t need formalities. We hugged each other close before holding each other at arm’s length. I looked into her eyes and grinned. Then we […]

Bowls of ripe San Marzano tomatoes flashed red alert on my back porch table. I tried to ignore them. I wanted to do other things: write a blog about something important, attend a dream group, and plan a hospice bereavement workshop. The tomatoes screamed for my attention. Now or we’re going to rot. In late May, […]

After moving to our land in 1972, I often walked the trail heading south through my fields. My dog ran ahead and circled back the way retrievers do.  In five minutes, we entered the deep forest. I followed an old lumbering trail near the border of my property until I came to a stream. Then I turned east to […]

1. Silence: Begin your day with silence, even if only five minutes. Focus on this one moment when you have all the time and possibility in the world. 2. Body: Throughout the day, return to the sacred within body—in color, the sounds of nature, the taste of a peach, the smell of a flower. Bring […]

Letting Go of Fear

I lie in darkness under warm blankets. Willow snoozes on her bed on the floor. It’s 4 a.m. My heart pounds as though I’m being chased. No one here except me and this demon. Each breath comes knotted and shallow. My pulse pounds in my ears. I try my favorite exercise at moments like this. Breathe and […]

We walked through a maze of flowered paths in Montreux, Switzerland. My husband Vic rolled a ball with our young son David so I could talk with Paul Brunton, the elderly philosopher we’d come to visit. In 1973 during our first trip to visit PB, as we called him, the old sage took us to the gardens along Lake Geneva […]