A blaze of glory
20 years ago, just two days before my twins were born, our front maple tree in Colorado Springs was a blaze of glory, all shades of bright red and burnt orange. It was a [...]
On advocating for justice
Final clue in the Jeopardy! Masters finals tonight, and 1 of 3 remembered: Korematsu v. United States, which upheld the exclusion issued in 1942 Executive Order 9066. Dissenting justice Frank Murphy wrote the exclusion [...]
Only You
On the Friday before Labor Day in 1994, when literature teacher Faith impulsively flies to Italy to chase after her destiny, I get it. She doesn’t have any classes to teach until Wednesday! I [...]
So Long, Wendell Berry
The Peace of Wild Things “When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may [...]
When The Light Changed
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1970s. Twenty-year-old Gemi Visser has always felt caught between worlds. Raised in a lively canal house by the family she knows and loves, Gemi has built a life filled with flowers, [...]
Happy Sesquicentennial to Colorado!
Happy Sesquicentennial to Colorado! Born 1876 and still going strong in 2026, 150 years of purple mountain majesties (“America The Beautiful” was written about Pikes Peak). Our state flower is the Rocky Mountain columbine, [...]
Summer strawberries
Peaceful interlude under my pergola beside aspen trees this morning. Does anyone else pair their cardboard bread (whole grains, protein, fiber, omegas, seeds) with sliced strawberries? I know it’s more of a Dutch tradition [...]
Linger for a moment and listen
What are you writing which catches your attention and challenges your ideas? Some authors are not sure what they think about something until they brainstorm with notes or bullet journaling. I bring along a [...]
Chaos Dorm Move In
First-time college parent preparing to send your baby to university? Shopping and packing while weeping? The trek to college is emotional. My job as mama is to make myself obsolete, and to send into [...]
Happy 105th!
Today is Diny's 105th birthday, which I hope she is celebrating with a lekker Rijsttafel in Heaven.I am dearly fond of my Nico and Diny, my Opa and Oma. They were as most pictures [...]