All Purls. No Swine.
My mother-in-law, Geraldine Zbozny, was born 105 years ago today. Here's an update of a post I've published annually for the past few years: It’s been sixteen years since my mother-in-law passed away, and perhaps it’s time to tell a bit of her story. Geraldine Virginia was born on May 13, 1918. She’d have been… Continue reading A Mother-In-Law For the Ages–How Great Thou Wert
Lucy: “An English name, Lucy means ‘of the light.'” So sue me, I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon watching the Coronation Concert, which was carried live on PBS. Overall, it was considerably better than I expected, with a couple of bizarre and untuneful exceptions. What has probably been the most controversial act —… Continue reading Bringing the Light
Today, April 29, 2023, is the day that one of my all all-time favorite performers begins his tenth decade on the planet, I'm reposting a piece from exactly two years ago, and looking forward to seeing the man himself in concert this upcoming August. Ain't it funny (how time slips away)? Happy 88th birthday to… Continue reading Happy 90th Birthday, Willie Nelson!
On this April 16, 2023, a day that would have been my grandmother Molly's 125th birthday, I bring back a post originally published six years ago today, on Ricochet. It was Easter Sunday for me then; it's Easter Sunday today for my Orthodox friends. Happy Easter, everyone! My grandmother Molly could be a rather stern… Continue reading On Granny. Oh, and On Chocolate, Too. And a Few Other Things As Well
'Fat' is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her. I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is 'fat' worse than 'vindictive,' 'jealous,' 'shallow,' 'vain,' 'boring,' or 'cruel?' Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about… Continue reading Quote of the Day: On Overcoming Girly Insults and Dealing With Compliments of Any Sort
Yes, it's a marvelous conundrum: I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man's actions but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner...I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did… Continue reading On Hatred: What Did CS Lewis Have To Say?
Lord. Here we are, halfway through January already. And it's still Christmas in my house, although I've started to take the decorations down. Won't be long until I'm regretting doing so. Especially the tree. Because, soon enough, it'll be time to start all over again. And if I'd just left everything up, I wouldn't have… Continue reading January 15
Beautiful morning today, down here on the farm, although a fleeting recollection of the old saying, "Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning," did run through my mind. (True to form, the rain starts tonight.) But my first thought took me back to my high-school days, and the first time I read The Odyssey end-to-end… Continue reading Rosy-Fingered Dawn
I've written, every now and then, about my New Year's practice of trying to sum up the year that's passed in just twelve words, one for each month. I'm not much of a diarist, other than in the ways I write my life here and on Ricochet, and as a rule I try not to… Continue reading Twelve Little Words–2022
Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'it will be happier'--Alfred, Lord Tennyson Crimenutely. In my search for a suitable quote of the day for New Year's Eve, I stumbled over a little-known work (at least, I didn't know about it, which makes it little-known in my book) by Alfred, Lord… Continue reading Two from Tennyson for New Year’s Eve