My coworkers don’t evangelize, which I appreciate. What they do — and have been doing since their careers began — is work on themselves. They try to make themselves better people, stronger people, more compassionate and ethical people, so that they can help those who come to them. Continue reading

We attended Family Day this weekend at the Navy Yard -- this meant bounce houses, magic shows, tours through ships and the Commander’s quarters, plus tons of interactive tours through the workshops. We invited my ex-husband because it was his weekend with my son, and we wanted my son to... Continue reading

This picture message or video message was sent using Multimedia Messaging Service. To play video messages sent to email, Apple QuickTime 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation... Continue reading

I've heard it said that living in New Hampshire is living in the past. There's a lot of truth to that; you can easily live in a 1600's village in a 1600's house if you make a go of it. There weren't many villages, or many houses in 1600's New... Continue reading

As a gift for someone on your list for whom nothing seems quite right this year, have you considered a betta? They are great company, easy to care for, inexpensive to maintain, and a thoroughly eccentric gift! Continue reading

Do you have an activity that makes you feel calmer, saner, more in touch with yourself? If you're not able to do this thing for a few days, do you notice feeling unsettled, out of balance, a little off? If the answer is "yes," then that activity is your grounding mechanism, and it's important to keep it going. Develop it. Pay attention to how it affects you. Why? When life gets tough it can really save your bacon. Continue reading

Love is not a numbers game. If you walk into a room and start assigning scores to people based on their looks, their clothes, their income, their status, their car, their IQ, their success or their probability for success in the future, you are not looking for love. You are shallow. Go home until you learn to value other people as much as you value yourself. Then you might be worth knowing. Continue reading

This is the A1 Diner in Gardiner, Maine. They offer healthy diner food that won't make you hate yourself or your face break out. Their lengthy specials board, which you can see on the wall behind the counter, includes Vietnamese Street Sandwiches, Indian Vindaloo, Greek Spanikopita, Italian Calimari, a couple... Continue reading

This is where we were today -- Gardiner, Maine. This is the Anglican Church on the common. That's my shadow. My friend Marjene was looking at a house to buy around the corner. Her boy was being overexcited, so I took him outside so his mom could have some time... Continue reading

I've been blogging for about ten years now; my first blog was simply a bibliography of the books and other sources I found while researching my first book. Okay, I realize that sounds dry, but it was fascinating -- the book was a verse-novel, set in the South Pacific islands... Continue reading

When I was at my town's Interfaith Counsel meeting a few weeks ago, one of the warm-up exercises was to break up into small groups and discuss what we're thankful for this November. Honestly I can't remember what everyone else around my table said. I do remember, however, how their... Continue reading

When the power went off tonight, our evening got warmer and brighter. Continue reading

This is my man preparing dinner by flashlight. Lol. Bless his heart. Related articles Depression versus Prosperity Theology In Defense of (Timmy) Failure "I Married A Witch" Or Rather, "Another Witch Gives Up" Continue reading

How do we approach thanksgiving when thankful is the last think we feel? Difficult years demand going deeper. Continue reading

Photo of Charles I at age 28: Gerard van Honthorst [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons King Charles I, (1660-1649) married outside his faith, stood for conservative ideas in a generation moving toward change, and became the first English king in recorded history to be executed by the state. Why is... Continue reading

Since Math Boy's ancestors had a brush with the Puritans back in the 1600's (and did NOT come out on top), he picked Pilgrim. In real life our family was on the losing end of the English Civil War; the family home was burned, many family members killed; our first English ancestor in America made his way onto a ship bound for the colonies in order to survive that bloody revolution. Continue reading

It's almost 11pm, Saturday evening. Those of us who are doing NABLOPOMO are twenty-two days into it at this point. Those two things should cue us all in that this isn't going to be a long post. It's not going to plumb the depths of anyone's soul, perform exegesis on... Continue reading

You know how it feels when you know you should leave, but you just can't? Here’s the rough sketch: Rowena is dating her cousin, Rudolph. Rowena is dating her cousin Rudolph, who is engaged to Charlene. Rowena is dating her cousin Rudolph who is engaged to Charlene with whom he is living. To make matters even more icky: Rowena works with Rudolph. Rowena works with Charlene. Rowena also works with Rudolph’ father, mother and sister – her uncle, aunt and cousin, as well as Charlene. Rowena says she's ninety-eight percent over Rudolph, but will she ever make that last two percent? Continue reading

As you may recall from my post, TV-Free In The Family, we haven’t had a television for years. Many nights are spent with the family in front of the fire, playing a board game. As the gift-giving season rolls around, I thought it might be helpful to share some that... Continue reading

In yesterday's post you learned about the uncomfortable parent-teacher meeting of late last week. I didn't walk into the room with defending chapter book anti-heroes, but ten minutes into our fifteen-minute interview, there I was, comparing the main characters in Captain Underpants to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. I did... Continue reading

Having just come from a meeting between Math Boy's elementary school teacher, Math Boy's dad, Math Boy, S.M. (as I'm now calling Studmuffin) and me. We know how to pack a room. In between the teacher beggin the janitor for "five more minutes" for her to do her job while... Continue reading

"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us." Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922) "I thought you were going to bring me back to God." Mort said this to me. Repeatedly. My failure to deliver God... Continue reading

This is my second attempt at this post -- my first died when my wifi hiccoughed -- so just pretend you already know what I'm talking about and I'll (mercifully) skip the preliminaries. Here's the thing: I have a pastoral care client who believes that her depression is an afront... Continue reading

Does the thought of another turkey for Thanksgiving bore the hell out of you? Some years, yeah, I'm into it. Sometimes putting the bird in the oven in the early morning and then sitting around -- drinking wine, snacking, cooking, playing board games until it comes out, hours later --... Continue reading