Living in the Gap

Our Secret Weapon “This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”― Alan Watts My grandchildren are hanging out in my bedroom playing Battleship. Do you remember that game? It’s been quite a few years (okay, decades) since I played, but as I sit here listening to their banter, I’m…

“I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe I saw something peeking through my window this morning that was so enchanting I had to assume it was sacred. There was this simple stream of light spilling over the window seal, curving down the wall, and flowing onto the hardwood floor. It captured me, and…

“I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe What an incredible question. One that gets beaten out of us by the time we’re adolescents. We’re taught in school and in life what is and isn’t possible, and slowly we start approaching every problem with limitations rather than creativity.  Some crazy scientist, Dr.…

“Flowers don’t tell, they show. That’s the way good books should be too.”–Stephanie Skeem. I drink cup after cup of Folgers coffee while jotting down these little observations about life. It’s usually early morning when my disposition is at its best. Environment matters, as eyes are often my first source of inspiration. When they sweep the room, it’s important that I have something intriguing to…

The Rabbit Hole Alice: “How long is forever?”  Rabbit: “Sometimes, just one second.” Lewis Carroll They say everything can change in the blink of an eye. The older I get, the more I know this to be true. When you think about it, our entire life is a mere bleep in the scope of time, and yet it can seem like forever.   My understanding of what actually qualifies as life is continually…

Hedging A Bet Against  The End Of 2026 “Hello, sun in my face. Hello, you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.” Mary Oliver It’s pitch dark. And bitterly cold. I’m still lost in the embrace of my dreams as I wiggle out of bed, who am I kidding, as I lumber out of bed groaning, and waddle to the bathroom. The fact that…

Before They Drown? “The greatest enemy of hunger for the divine is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for eternity, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night.” ― John Piper I’m hungry.  Unreasonably hungry! I know why, but since I am here, I…

That’s All “We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love.” ― Robert Fulghum Back Story I found myself standing at the kitchen counter one morning, arranging some lemons in a white bowl and wondering if I enjoyed them more than…

In An Unraveling World “Writing is not a matter of time, but a matter of space. If you don’t keep space in your head for writing, you won’t write even if you have the time.” ― Katerina Stoykova Klemer Me, at five, and the Mona Lisa These two images, when combined, explain why women are often perceived as mysterious. The entire world comes through a female body, and yet half the population has…

The Fact That It Stops “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” ― Ernest Hemingway “Get out of the way! Look at that damn driver, blocking the fast lane,” Larry Sr would lament, while tailing the slow driver and flashing his brights. Anything that stood between him and his destination was cause for…

In A Noisy World “What you do speaks so loud,” said Emerson, “that I cannot hear what you say.” When I don’t spend enough time alone with my thoughts, they get feisty, as if a neglected child, and start buying bamboo sheets and shimmery slippers on Amazon without my permission. It’s not that I don’t like the things my thoughts purchase, it’s just annoying, like an itch you can’t quite…

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” – J. R. R. Tolkien I can be lazy. Okay, I said it, but trust me, somewhere in the afterlife, my mother just sighed loudly.  If there was one thing Mom worshipped, besides a freshly vacuumed carpet, it was crossing everything off her to-do list before sundown. My mother was ridiculously disciplined and just shy of fanatical…