When I was a kid growing up in Dallas, we spent Thanksgivings at my granny and grampy’s house.  No one could make a pumpkin chiffon pie (cool whip in the batter) better than granny.  When I was a teenager, we spent Thanksgivings in New York City – going to the Macy’s parade and seeing Broadway shows.    And when I was married to my first husband, we spent Thanksgivings eating his signature meal of turkey, red cabbage, and apple pie. (more…)

Is it my imagination or is it getting darker earlier now than November of last year?  My kids are coming home in twilight.  People are driving home from work in the dark.  Somehow the end of daylight savings time still blindsides me every year (like seeing Christmas decorations in the stores on Halloween … really?). (more…)

Harold* is waiting to die.  There were six of us at his bedside in the county nursing home, leaning toward him singing softly: “Amazing grace . . . how sweet the sound . . . “  Tears in his eyes, he shook each of our hands saying, “Thank you, you don’t know how much that meant to me.”  Little did he know how much it had meant to us . . . ..how much he meant to me. (more…)

This past labor day, I made my annual trek with a girlfriend to a remote rock, 10 miles off the coast of southern New Hampshire, called Star Island. Every year we go out for a weekend of rest, friendship, and spiritual renewal.

And every year brings some gift of natural wonder. One year it was a spectacular sunrise. Another year, there were monarch butterflies all over the island. Last year it was the lull of the wild stormy ocean that seemed most mesmerizing. And this year, it was the sunset. Two panoramic sunsets. (more…)

The first tree I fell in love with was a southern magnolia.  That tree, as I recall, was absolutely huge — with low lying branches where a little girl could sit, sheltered from the Texas heat.  In the spring it produced giant, fragrant blossoms — larger than my hands — that gave off the most heavenly scent imaginable.  My mother used to put the blooms in bowls of water around the house so that the rooms would fill with the smell of magnolia. (more…)