Category: Non-fiction
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The Bookmark: May
Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book, Vincent vanGogh,1888, oil on canvas, Arles, France. As I sit on the porch on an early summer afternoon, the clouds are gathering. To the south and west some blue sky is visible, but all other parts of the sky are shades of gray, gray-blue and sun…
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An Obligation to Beauty
Christina’s World, Andrew Wyeth, 1948, Contemporary Realism A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule. -Michael Pollen in Second Nature Apparently, our yard is particularly suited to the thistle. I have never seen such huge, healthy plants. The stems are easily an inch in diameter, the leaves are a foot long and three inches wide, with…
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The Bookmark: April
Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book, Vincent vanGogh,1888, oil on canvas, Arles, France. An inch of rain is predicted today, starting at 11. As I am writing the skies are clear. I have plans to pull weeds if it doesn’t rain, and to sew a dress if it does. I guess I…
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An Exaltation of Larks
A little madness in the spring is wholesome even for a king. -Emily Dickinson And what could be madder than the English language? Here’s some perfectly grammatical sentences allowed in English. Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.Will Will Smith smith?The old man the boat.The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.A boat shipping boat transports…
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The Bookmark: March
Vincent van Gogh, Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book, 1888, oil on canves, Arles, France. The reading in March has taken me from my armchair to Africa to Europe to Iowa. The time periods spanned hundreds of years from the early 1600’s to 1903. I know of no other hobby that has…
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The Bookmark: February
Vincent van Gogh, Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book, 1888, oil on canves, Arles, France. Several times this month I heard the excuse, ‘well, it’s a short month.’ I even said it myself in the last few weeks. And every time it makes me laugh. Really, two days make a lot of…
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The Bookmark: January
Henri Matisse, 1890, Still Life with Books and Candle, oil on canvas, Realism I’ve been making reading plans for 2026 based on what I learned last year. The biggest revelation was slow reading is enjoyable reading. I also rediscovered the classics are really good books. Bookclub: The Q The Q by Beth Brower, 2021, 477…
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Improving Your Serve: The Art of Unselfish Living
Improving Your Serve: The Art of Unselfish Living by Charles Swindoll 1981, 212 pages This book can be summed up in Matthew 20:28: Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. “Since Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took…
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I Have Published a Book!
I’m excited and nervous all at the same time! I have been writing a book on teaching school for a few years now, and I finally finished it and got it published! As you may know, teaching and school are two of my favorite topics. It covers all the aspects of teaching school – class…
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Timeless Summer Reads: Connecting Past and Present
The air wafting through my open window has a special feel today. It’s drowsy, dreamy and transportive. It is blowing from some far away childhood summer afternoon, and brings with it the feelings and thoughts of those days, taking me back to imaginary summers long before I was born. It brings timeless thoughts and feelings…
So She Reads 