From RevGals… List Five things you won’t be doing to prepare for Christmas. Simple! 1. The tin soldiers will remain unpolished2. The goose is on a diet, but I promise to still put a peso in the old man´s hat.3. The one horse open sleigh ride is just going to have to wait. Sand in…

I have never been much for taking photographs. Once I read an article by Alice Walker, author, about the fixed nature of pictures versus the roominess of the written word. It was fascinating and helped me understand why I preferred to write in the place about being in the place rather than take what I…

Advent I, 2009 Will it belike the potent natural urgeof moon and gravityto loose the seaand let her praise? Will it belike the smooth and traveling warmthin my hands, my fingers,when I hold a stonethat has rested with the sun? Will it belike light and silence-the fullness of color,the fullness of sound,like the awe of…

The Cure Lying around all daywith some strange new deep blueweekend funk, I’m not really asleepwhen my sister callsto say she’s just hung upfrom talking with Aunt Berthawho is 89 and ill but managingto take care of Uncle Frankwho is completely bed ridden.Aunt Bert saysit’s snowing there in Arkansas,on Catfish Lane, and she hasn’t beenable…

The theme of prayer the other night was the question Jesus put to the blind man—What would you have me do for you? The answer was easy for him—I want to see. And so he did, by his faith. It was an interesting thing to think in what my answer would be—or better, what my…

Yesterday morning I went to the iglesia del mar-The Church of the Sea. I sat on the beach and prayed my own version of the rosary and was accompanied by flocks of pelicans cruising in synch. I also learned how to tell which line on the water will become a wave. Before I guessed, but…

Mary By the Sea It was a question unexpectedwhile thinking by the sea— ¨Where were you a moment ago?¨ Out far on the mystical assumption of waveswhere what the eye no longer seesis cared for by the sun.I arrived there, coppery wetfrom this font of tidal glory,full of awe and just a bit of seaweedcaught…

From the Journal… I am sitting here listening to the high school chorus practice in the sala de pastoral next door. They sing BEAUTIFULLY… guitar, not piano. Harmonies you could sleep on and from the heart, from the heart. I love listening to them. It reminds me of my kids in other places. Just returned…

Primero en castellano, luego inglés!First in Spanish, then English! De mi diario hoy, 5/11/09From my journal today, 5/11/09 E acaba de entrar aquí con un regalo para mi–una chincha en su mano. Ella me la pasó a mi mano y después de un rato la salió volando. Quizás un placer muy simple, pero uno que…

1. The silver frothed ocean through the green and craggy hills… I was riding in a micro and realized as I was watching the ocean pass by that the hills on the other side were reflected in the same window that provided my view. Both facets of glory were received gratefully in one sense-thirsty stare….