“. . . ever since that day in Falmouth, I could only find that God gave us the natural liberty to err or do well but did not play with us like dolls and carved toys. Why some faithful prayers are answered and others not was a mystery. Nor could I yield to the thought […]
Sunday Morning at St Edith Stein, A Dream I don’t know when the tears began. It was like a rain shower that starts while you are sleeping you wake and the world is wet— drops streaking the window, the trees, the grass, the sky, the passing cars, and running down the insides of your dreams […]
The rose-gold world resounds with end of day gladness. The sky stretched like a canvas waiting to be filled with calling birds winging home to their roosts. The grass’s green glimmers with gilt while sentinel trees have darkened their cloaks, looming shoulder to shoulder, black and grey shadows. And she, unaware that she is glowing […]
Today we took a field trip to the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary, which is owned and run by Massachusetts Audubon Society. And yes, it’s that Daniel Webster, the famous statesman– he’s buried in the cemetery on the other side of the parking lot and he once owned the farm which is now the sanctuary. We […]
Motherhood The way the mother’s fingers lift and squish her breast to help the baby latch. The way the baby’s hand clutches his mother’s finger as he nurses. The way the baby’s eye looks up, trustingly, at his mother’s face. The way the mother looks down at him, tender and absorbed, meeting his eye. The […]
Hardly a day goes by when I don’t find myself suggesting books on social media. Evidently I’m getting a name for it. Today when a woman in a group asked for a suggestion and I leaped in she said she was hoping I might have some suggestions. It has been suggested to me that I […]
Visitation When Mary stepped into the house a strong wind came with her lifting the red ribbons that Elizabeth had hung near the door to catch the breeze and delight the eye. They hung about her head like dancing flames, like a crown of fire, and, as she stepped into Elizabeth’s arms, the wind also […]
Cecil picked out a little flat box and opened it. Inside was a circle of wax. There was an impression on it but the wax, held together by a frame, was broken across. It looked like an animal with a stick between its hoofs. “What’s this? she asked. Ambrose Morne screwed in his eye-glass. “I […]
A friend asked for suggestions for beautiful books about the Middle Ages that don’t make it sound like a sad, terrible time for humanity with no ideas or beauty, only darkness. And I realized when I was trying to find suggestions on my blog that it’s time to update my book list. We’ve discovered some […]
Dawn Wind by Rosemary Sutcliff is a historical novel that takes place in the years after the British have lost a decisive battle to the Saxon at Aquae Sulis. The novel ends as Aethelbert consolidates his power as king of the Saxons in the south and the monk Augustine arrives as a missionary from Pope […]