Where I'm published
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The Healing Power of Gardening
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” ~May Sarton Gardening restores me — no matter what else is going on around me. The essay below is a tribute to my Scottish-immigrant grandfather and his garden. It first appeared a few years ago in Country Gardens and was reprinted in the American and British editions of Reader’s Digest. It’s also included in my essay collection, Writing Home. Grandpa’s Ferns My grandfather was the proverbial Scottish curmudgeon, born and bred on a farm in the Orkney Islands. In his last…
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Confessions of a recovering perfectionist
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” ~Anne Lamott I ordered the garden plaque as soon as I saw it in a mail-order catalog. Crafted from terra cotta, it announces in bold letters: EMBRACE IMPERFECTION. Today the plaque hangs on a brick wall just outside my garden room window, where I can view its reassuring message every day. Come to think of it, I should have ordered duplicates to use as decorative reminders throughout the house. I’ve battled perfectionism most of my life. My finely honed nit-picking skills — inherited from my mother — serve me…
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Sheltering Wright: My essay in NEWSWEEK
“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.” ~Frank Lloyd Wright It’s hard to believe a full year has passed since the global pandemic reshaped the way we live every day. Last spring, when the monotony of living in lockdown set in, Doug and I decided to spend more time at our Wright home (the Carl Schultz house) in St. Joseph. Prior to the pandemic, we’d put a great deal of effort into renovating and upgrading the home and its surrounding property — but rarely took time to actually live in the place and enjoy the results of our labor. The pandemic motivated us to change that last year, and it inspired an essay…
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Gardening Wright
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Spring break for moms
“By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.” ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh Few people need a spring vacation more than caregivers and moms with young kids. In Metro Parent, I share a memory of my visit to Captiva Island, where Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote her classic seaside meditation, Gift from the Sea — a book that has resonated with meaning throughout the parenting and caregiving stages of my life. You can read the essay online here. Photo by Cindy La Ferle
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Seasonal nostalgia: revisiting a Christmas essay
Cindy La Ferle “Christmas weaves a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance: A day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.” ~Augusta E. Rundel Given the necessary restrictions for parties and family gatherings, Christmas won’t look quite the same this year. But even without a pandemic, this otherwise festive holiday can strike a melancholy chord for anyone suffering a loss. Not long after my mother was officially diagnosed with vascular dementia, I wrote an essay on the bittersweet aspects of Christmas memories for Read the Spirit, an online interfaith magazine founded by…
