Category: Uncategorized

Writing as a Spiritual Practice

I will be leading a 4-week workshop on Writing as a Spiritual Practice (via Zoom). If you can tell a story to your neighbor when you meet at the mailbox, you can write. And if you’re a person of faith, you can use writing as one more tool in the toolbox to deepen your relationship … Continue reading Writing as a Spiritual Practice

Reverend Ricketts, Reptile Wrangler

A funny story about the importance of listening well & fact-checking: My husband Dave has been a pastor at our church for 15+ years. Our church tries to prioritize being FOR our local community, loving our neighbors well. If you know Dave, you know he is all in. Dave is also an environmentalist. And a … Continue reading Reverend Ricketts, Reptile Wrangler

Reading: Feb-March 2022

Lots of reading recently... I've been doing research for a Writing as a Spiritual Practice class I hope to teach next month (stay tuned for more info) and I've also participated in an online book discussion group with other writers. And then there's all the fiction I read to procrastinate on the actual work projects … Continue reading Reading: Feb-March 2022

Finding Peace Outside

Recently I have been wrestling with a deep (and unnecessary) disappointment, a let-down that pressed hard on still-tender tissue beneath old scars. Things didn’t have to go this way, and yet they did and I’ve done all I can do. I have also noticed something interesting in my response to this turn of events: I … Continue reading Finding Peace Outside

Reading: January 2022

I set a goal to read six books each month this year, and instead in January I read eight. Does your reading happen consistently, a little each day? Sometimes I fall into a story and binge it every available minute until it ends. Other times all my 'on hold' library books come up at once … Continue reading Reading: January 2022

January in California

I am enamored with January in California. While friends around the world share pictures of snow or, much worse, inflamed cheeks frosted with icy eyelashes, here “green” has become a verb. We watch, newly astonished, at the greening of our once crisp straw hills. Once dead lawns resurrect themselves, springing to life with tender green … Continue reading January in California

Spark

The smallest spark can ignite a fire,for good or ill,To warm friends around a campfire on a chilly nightTo candle-cozy a room and illuminate a page of readingTo create a fireline for safetyOr burn down buildings. The smallest spark of electricity canPower a light bulb or an engineAnd heat or cool your food or home.Lightning … Continue reading Spark

Reading: Holidays 2021

Sorry to post so late, but you understand, life got busy and the living of life felt more important than posting about the reading of books. But here I am with a quick reading update, and you can expect another reading post in just a few weeks. Book titles link to Amazon for more info … Continue reading Reading: Holidays 2021

The Ricketts’ Season Greetings

A man [or woman!] practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies, and adopting new viewpoints. -Wilfred Peterson By that definition, this pandemic season of life has been an adventure requiring rigorous … Continue reading The Ricketts’ Season Greetings