“It happens this way” are the opening words from a poem of mine called “A Few Words on Inspiration.” They signal that this blog will share what inspires me to stand up – like poet Galway Kinnell – and say “with as little concealment as possible, what it is for [me] to be on earth at this moment.”
Welcome to the journey!
SMITTEN: How do we identify ourselves?
It happens this way … There’s a new anthology coming out in a few weeks called SMITTEN: This Is What Love Looks Like from Indie Blu(e) Publishing. It features 120 women, ages ...
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In Memory of 9/11
It happens this way … Here, a Holding On for New York City October 1, 2001 Twenty days of barricades and twos and threes pause on Chambers Street – ...
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The Theology of Not-Yet
It happens this way … I just finished reading Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned About Life by Harold S. Kushner, the author of Why Bad Things Happen to Good People ...
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Beware of staring ducks
It happens this way … Yesterday I received my paperback copy of the summer issue of QU, a literary magazine published by Queens University of Charlotte, NC. I knew they had ...
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To the last days of August …
It happens this way … Notes from an August Gardener In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. – Albert Camus Sunday ...
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Make More Mistakes
It happens this way … Last week’s post about my lying to cover up mistakes uncovered a distant memory. It was 1980 and I was standing at the kitchen sink ...
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Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave …
It happens this way … Rarely does a book so captivate me that I stay up late and get up early to finish it. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarity was ...
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In Praise of Left Hands
It happens this way … It only took minor minor-surgery to make me realize how important a left hand is. (For all the lefties out there, read “right hand.”) The ...
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Changing the Hospital Narrative
It happens this way … I used to hate hospitals. When I was in sixth grade, I fractured an ankle while ice skating on Woodbridge pond on New Year’s Eve ...
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The East Coast Diaries, Part VIII
It happens this way … July 5: We left Philly for a final visit with my mom and a delightful lunch with my Mount student Ampy Pikarsky (’72) and her ...
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The East Coast Diaries, Part VII
It happens this way … The 4th of July in Philadelphia where it all started! My Mount student Rhonda Fabian (’75) and her husband Jerry met us for front row seats ...
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The East Coast Diaries, Part VI
It happens this way … We continued July 3 with a visit to the magnificent National Constitution Center. Outside, re-enacters roamed the mall with their tents, costumes, and stories told ...
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The East Coast Diaries, Part V
It happens this way … July 3rd started a block away from our hotel with a celebration with the Philadelphia Fire Department. Since Benjamin Franklin founded the first department, his ...
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The East Coast Diaries, Part IV
It happens this way … Tuesday, July 2: My dear sister/friend, Bernadette Pape who works for the Jesuits in Merion, Pennsylvania, came into town for a stroll and breakfast at ...
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The East Coast Diaries, Part III
It happens this way … If you thought we were finished on Monday, July 1, you would be so wrong! We discovered that the new Museum of the American Revolution ...
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The East Coast Diaries, Part II
It happens this way … Monday, July 1: First full day of Philadelphia sightseeing. We started with the Liberty Bell and met a delightful couple from Limerick, Ireland: Patricia and ...
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The East Coast Diaries, Part I
It happens this way … The second trip of 2019 took us to New Jersey and Philadelphia. We spent June 28-June 30 at the Mt. St. Mary House of Prayer, a ...
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A Sunday Thought
It happens this way … It’s taken me decades to understand that when my poems are rejected by a publication, I shouldn’t take it personally. I’ve learned to breathe deeply, ...
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The Maui Diaries, Part 7
It happens this way … Hula and ukulele: can you get more Hawaiian than that? Over the years, Kathy has enjoyed taking hula lessons from one of the premier kumu ...
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The Maui Diaries, Part 6
It happens this way … May 21, 2019 Ranked one of the ten best aquariums in the country, the Maui Ocean Center in Ma’alaea is a well-planned, well-laid-out ocean-lover’s delight ...
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The Maui Diaries, Part 5
It happens this way … May 20, 2019 On Maui, openness and flexibility are required to keep the Aloha spirit alive. Almost every time we planned a day of site-seeing ...
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The Maui Diaries, Part 4
It happens this way … May 19, 2019 To the south of Kihei is an exclusive area known as Wailea. Country clubs with their expansive golf courses, multi-million dollar houses ...
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The Maui Diaries, Part 3
It happens this way … May 18, 2019 Two of the free sites we love to visit are the Maui Tropical Plantation in Waikapu and the Heritage Center in the ...
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The Maui Diaries, Part 2
It happens this way … May 17 – 30, 2019 The ocean and sunsets: two of Maui’s delights. Unlike New Jersey where you have to pay to go on a ...
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The Maui Diaries, Part 1
It happens this way … May 16, 2019 All I wanted for my 74th birthday was a sunset walk on a Kihei beach. So when Kathy, her mother Patsy, and ...
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Thoughts for a Saturday
It happens this way … It’s been almost a year since I launched this blog and announced my intention of posting one – maybe two or three – articles a ...
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Celebrating a new neighbor
It happens this way … Last Sunday our new neighbors, a lovely Ethiopian couple, invited us to a party celebrating their daughter’s first birthday. We have known the father for ...
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10,000 words about early spring
It happens this way … If a picture is worth a thousand words, here are 10,000 words from our April yard. Here’s to an abundant spring time wherever you are! ...
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By your students you’ll be taught, Part II
It happens this way … Last Wednesday we completed our third poetry class at Happy Valley Library. These classes were an experiment to see if any one in the local ...
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