Back to Writing

 Hi, friends -

A few months ago Adam convinced me to join a writers' group in a nearby town. We went, and I enjoyed it. Best of all, it has helped me to start writing again. We humans have only so much time in each day, and in recent years, a lot of my time has been taken up with fiber arts: wool, spinning and dyeing it, knitting and weaving it. I've enjoyed that, but I think I may be tapering off my fascination with wool.

I've also enjoyed watercolor painting, and that will continue as long as I can sell my cards. But somehow I have to organize my writing and move it forward. Basically I keep my writing here, on this blog. Up in that top bar are links to the various stories and poems from many years of writing. What am I working on now?

I'm writing the 2nd cozy mystery in the Mortuary Mysteries series! Adam told me a while back that The Appearance of Death is his favorite of anything I've written. So I decided to give Ivy Monson and her funeral home adventures a second go! I'm about eight chapters in, and it's going well. I've read a couple of excerpts to the writers' group, and they enjoyed it, and I've shared a few poems with them too.

Best of all, the group is publishing a small anthology of works from our members, due out (hopefully) in time for Christmas! We have published writers, beginners, and everything in between. I consider myself "in between." I do have a children's novel on Amazon, Three Against the Dark, but that was years ago. I would love to work toward having a real, printed, hard-copy of something.

Speaking of publishing, I did try to get my Woodland Animals Bedtime book (Jammies On)printed. I submitted all the pages to the printer who does my watercolor cards for me. They are very nice, but their quote was too high -- nearly $20 per copy. That won't work, so I'm back to the starting line. There are lots of online printing options, but I'm hesitant to just pick one without having a good recommendation.

So that's the latest on me. I hope all's well with you, my old friends. 

On the Difficulties of Loving

 Let me tell you a little story that happened to me this morning. Some road work on the highway meant that the right lane was closed as I drove to exercise at the YMCA. Instead of listening to music in the car, I'd decided to do some spiritual thinking. My mind roamed around, and then lit on something I've been memorizing on and off for several years: the I Corinthians passage on LOVE. I began to mumble the list off to myself and realized I couldn't remember one item on the "love list." Traffic slowed as the right lane closed. Road work signs and trucks littered the side of the highway. I slowed and then stopped, part of a long line of cars waiting for the light to change. Bothered that I couldn't remember one phrase from Paul's love passage, I looked it up on my phone as I waited in line. Love doesn't dishonor others ... isn't easily angered ... ah! There it is! Love is not self-seeking!

At that very moment a hulking Chevy Tahoe shoved its nose into the not-big-enough-for-a-VW-bug space in front of me. Oh my goodness! How RUDE! Cutting in line, breaking the rules, being selfish. Ugh. I hate people who do that! I would never do that! Paul's love chapter lying on the phone in my lap, I nudged forward, trying to prevent her from horning in. She'd have none of it. I honked! I growled. I did not give her the bird, although it did occur to me. After I honked, she rolled down her window and waved at me, as if to say, "Tah ever so." I am reminded of the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes where the young girls holler to the older woman, "We're younger and faster!"

I was so very irritated, even mad. I wrote down her license plate number, whoever you are PLK 1208. I hugged her bumper and made gagging motions with my mouth and finger to show her exactly how repulsive people like her are to the rest of the population who do not do such obnoxious, selfish things. After we'd all cleared through the light and were curving on two lanes again onto the bigger highway, she yanked into the right lane, powered ahead of 5 cars and a truck loaded with asphalt, and whipped away out of sight, far exceeding the speed limit.

By the time I'd gotten to the YMCA and was swimming laps under the unrelenting sun, I began to ponder the connection of these events -- and primarily my own behavior -- with the Scripture passage I'd been so diligently trying to remember. How many of Paul's instructions about the nature of Love had I broken against that woman, in a matter of seconds? I was impatient, unkind, proud, dishonored her, was self-seeking and easily angered, and already was keeping a record of her wrongs. 

I was full of hate. I was unloving.

The woman and her Tahoe were sent to me at that moment, I think, by God, to show me that my Christian life is not only about memorizing words and trying hard to remind myself to be loving with those I know and love, with those I plan to see at church or home. My Christian life is all about being loving in the moment when unexpectedly unloving things are done to me, even by strangers.

What did Jesus say? It's no big deal to love those who love you. Everybody does that. The real challenge is to love those who hate you. (my paraphrase) Loving in the face of hate and cruelty to oneself is the defining characteristic of what Jesus teaches. 

As I swam I asked for God's forgiveness and knew it was given. 

Reading

 I'm a slow reader because I tend to read only at night before going to sleep -- just a few minutes. Some books I've finished recently:

The House Near Paris by Drue Tartiere

The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

It's been a while since I finished The House Near Paris, but I enjoyed it very much. My mother shoved this book on me well before she died and insisted I read it. I'm glad she did. It's a true story of an American woman in France during WW2 and her brave work in helping people escape the Nazis in her town.

The Ivy Tree was typical Mary Stewart: romantic, lovely. Not her most amazing, but typical. I like a little Mary Stewart occasionally as a break from other books.

I expected to adore Theo of Golden because it seemed everyone else did. But again, my unusual reading preferences made it a ho-hum book for me. It was okay. I finished it. I found Theo endearing, but the story a bit too fairytale perhaps. And the one scene of violence in the square by the fountain I found extraneous and pointless. Theo's death could have been accomplished in a dozen different ways without that scene. Just my opinion.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis was a surprise; at first I didn't like the idea of a novelist attributing all these thoughts, emotions, and personal words to people like C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. I was offended for them, rather Who does she think she is? However, I stuck with it and later grew to enjoy the story. The more romantic parts toward the very end were a bit sappy and awkward, but otherwise I felt it was a well-told tale. 

Going to see the movie The Odyssey recently prompted me to pull out a copy of Homer's epic and read it again. I'm finishing Book II. I would recommend the movie, unless you're a purist who cannot abide anything that's not true to the book. It was well-done by a director who clearly loved Homer's work. There were omissions and additions, as you'd expect. I will now enjoy the book.

I have run out of Josephine Tey books to read, and this is a sad place to be. Her books stick with me and I think of them often, especially The Franchise Affair. I need to find more Ngaio Marsh mysteries, and maybe some Ellis Peters. I do not like running out of books!

Time for a Catch-Up

 

Hello, friends! It's time for a little end-of-summer catch-up.

As usual, I'm barely surviving this end of the horrible hot season.

I am not a summer person.

I've still been painting cards.

I've also been doing some tapestry weaving. Below is the latest one, a beach scene with little beach huts.

In July we took a LONG drive to Florida to visit our daughter and her family there. We had an absolutely fabulous time -- very busy, but full to the brim of fun with the grandchildren. And it was so satisfying to see how well they are settling into their new home there. God's been good.

Poppie had all the fun his Poppie heart could stand with those kids.

We visited the Naval Aviation Museum. It was stupendous!

More handwork -- the first pumpkin of autumn this year:

Here's another tapestry weave this summer. This one was so fast. I LOVE doing the needle felting on top!

This is the tapestry weave that started it all: it had been on my loom for about 2 years. I was tired of it, and had to force myself to finish it. After it was cut off the loom, I launched into the other two and didn't look back.

I've been spinning too, just easy spinning with fiber I'd already dyed and processed. I spun the yellow and then plied it with the dark orange that I'd already spun.

I knitted yet another pair of wool socks. I love wool socks.

Our grand dogs came to visit. They are very loved.

They brought their humans along too! This was over July 4th. SO much fun! It was insanely hot, and our son worked outside so hard anyway. We went to the beach and played inside. We miss them.

My old wool slippers finally died, so I knitted and felted a new pair.

And here's one of several little purses I've started making.

Leeli, my mother's dog that we adopted after her death, is doing really well. She is my "velcro dog" -- strongly attached to me. All 5 animals seem to have adjusted to each other and get along in the house.

Adam is about to start school again and is eager to be in the classroom with students. Soon I'll return to the farmers market (after the temperatures cool), and life will settle into its usual rhythm. I'm so very ready for autumn.

Oh! And I've joined a local writers' group! We meet each month, and I've even been brave enough to read some of my stuff. I had just about stopped writing. But Adam gave me a good shove to go (and he accompanies me), and now I'm enjoying writing again.

Elemental Death

 

I am not convinced by those who embrace
A fiery end, gray ashes, and an urn.

Some find the licking flames a restful place

To lay their body in, and choose to burn.

I have a terror of those flames. I feel
The coolness of the earth a better choice.
Earth to earth, they murmur, and soil to soil.
Buried blood has sometimes had a voice.

Heaving waves have stolen many a corpse,
And many a willing body has leapt
To float and then descend beneath the oars.
And with Ophelia wash their way to death.

Why drown? Why burn? Why suffocate in dirt?
I’ve changed my mind – I want to die in air.
The wind will loose my linen winding shirt
And swirl its tender fingers through my hair.

July 11, 2026

Bayboro, NC

An Ideal Life

 Today a few different concepts converged in my mind. I heard a bit about a pastor named John Mark Comer, who writes books with titles like The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and Live No Lies: Recognize and Resist the Three Enemies that Sabotage Your Peace. One interviewer from The Atlantic tried to get hold of Comer to interview him and faced a challenge; the man was taking his own advice of a peaceful and unhurried life so that he wasn't responding to emails or texts.

Another trendy ad on Facebook is showing me a new book, The Way of the Wildflower: Gospel Meditations to Unburden Your Anxious Soul. How can I live like a wildflower? Unworried. Snoozing in the sun. Beautiful in my simplicity. 

Jesus describes this life this way:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (from Matthew 6)

My years of teaching literature left me with a handful of texts that stuck in my mind. One is "Bermudas" by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678). He describes the arrival of the first Englishmen to the island, and the Edenic life they found there -- or rather, the life they hoped for there. The poem is the song these immigrants sing from their boat as they arrive. They imagine an island where God provides every need and they only receive. He drops figs into their mouths and tosses melons at their feet. Not only do they not have to work for their food, they don't even have to think about it. They are like the wildflowers, dozing in abundance, utterly confident of God's provision.

I was not raised this way. I was raised in the DOING generation. Christianity was all about doing, and then doing more. It is extremely hard for me to stop doing, or even thinking about doing, and relax into simply being. I can barely conceive of a life where that is God's will for me: Rest, Being, Trust, Slowing down, Stop Doing Anything. For many of us, I think he'd have to break both our legs to slow us down. Even then, we'd probably be hobbling along on a walker, shouting to the others, "Wait for me! I can help!"

I do firmly believe that the New Earth where we will live for eternity is much like Marvell's Bermuda. Eden, I think, was also that way. I don't think Adam would have spent all day every day hacking back vines and weeding. There will be no pursuit of money, success, or power. (Think of that!) There will be no heroic deeds to save others from disaster, because there will be no disaster. Will I spend the first long spell on the New Earth asleep, recovering from a life of over-doing?

I'm now in the portion of life where I spend much thought time talking with the Holy Spirit, listening to God's voice to me. "Slow down," he says. "Rest." Yet my mind always returns to The-Next-Thing-I-Plan-To-Do. I need rewiring.

Hello, friends!

This morning I was reading in a few of your blogs and thought it was time for me to give a little update. ALL MY PHOTOS loaded in reverse order! So we'll have to start with the most recent things, and proceed to the oldest.

My sewing machine broke a little part. Adam is ordering a new one. It's the little curly metal piece that you put the thread through just before the needle. Don't know what it's called.

The farmers market started up again this past Saturday. That tent is my spot. Lovely friends at the market -- both vendors and customers!

I'm not much of a cook these days. But I did make some yummy tacos last week!

And a quiche! I love quiche.

Before my machine broke, I sewed a tiny fabric bowl.

Adam had another infusion at Duke for his auto-immune illness. He'll be feeling better soon.

I sewed some little quilted pouches that roll up and tie.

And I've been doing a very little bit of spinning. I need to get back to that ....

This is a Tummy-Time Mat I finished this winter -- a stiff quilt for a baby to spend time on the floor. It's a "Wonky Star" pattern.

I've been painting a good bit.

This is my favorite one recently:

We had a significant winter weather event with very cold temps and lots of snow, unusual for us. It took a long time to melt! I'm noting which of my outdoor potted plants survived this weather, and I'll be buying more of them. The two best were Gaura and Creeping Wire Vine.

I hope you are all very well and enjoying the warmer spring days. Time to be outdoors in the sunshine and breezes, messing with pots and soil!