Click here to read the entirety of Swick’s find essay “Photo book can reveal places, but not experiences there.”
Journeys don’t spare us; they drag us through the raw on our way to the sublime.
–Thomas Swick, travel editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Pelicans were part of my lyric life in Northern California as Daniel and I paddled round the small peninsula on Clear Lake in our kayaks and there, they are! A cloud of squawking white swirling and settling on the water.
I see a blur of pelicans this morning, looking over my shoulder, as I drive on […]

I’ve been harvesting my journals this week. One of the fruits of my harvest is this series of Riehlife contemplations which I hope you’ll enjoy and use:
–for cultivating your own contemplations.
–for starting conversations with loved ones and friends.
–for prompting your writing.
What are your foul weather blue sky gifts?
What does your writing/safe haven burrow look like?
What […]

The world offers itself to your imagination.
Offers to you. You offer back. You offer up.
The world opens up to you.
You open in return, to the world.
The world is a gift
if only you are there, present and open,
waiting and willing,
vulnerable and strong
to catch and harvest what is offered.
The lyrical early spring day with rain spits […]

Every writer needs a writing room. What about a burrow…a hole or tunnel dug into the earth to create a space of temporary refuge….and where your thoughts and feelings can inhabit themselves freely, on paper.

Dig a deep hole to bury your sorrows. Bury them, do not forget them. For, they are alive and will burrow […]

Jimmy Cliff’s “Too Many Rivers To Cross” was one of the sound track songs from my time in Botswana and Ghana in the 1970s. There were a lot of rivers to cross, and I learned how to cross them…not all at once, but slowly, and one by one. This also made a great slow dance […]

When one wrinkle is made smooth, I notice a bump beyond…in the distance…and want to go there and explore. What could that bump be? A mountain, perhaps? Or, just a molehill?
I see a vast plain, like a tapestry carpet stretching out before me…miles to the mountain.
I will journey over the plains, but need to […]

Anne Schroeder is a fifth generation Californian, whose love of writing was fueled by stories of immigrant ancestors. Anne evokes the drama of growing up in a close-knit Southern California farm community in her first memoir, “Branches on the Conejo: Leaving the Soil after Five Generations.” Anne and I are linked by our love […]

Paul Norden sent these photos and this message from Chicago.

Tibetan woman waves Tibetan flag in Chicago Tibet Peace March (Photo by Paul Norden)
Over 800 Tibetans marched in Chicago on Tuesday, March 18. They came from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Illinois. The line peacefully ran from the Water Tower up Michigan Ave over 3 city blocks […]

Now that I’m back in the heartland of the Midwest, I’m happily enjoying Oberle’s Headcheese. Yes, I understand. It’s an acquired taste. But, for us farmgirls, it’s a natural.
Oberle’s Meat Market
21529 Highway 32
Ste. Genevieve, Missouri 63670
(573) 883-5656
Offering the original famous Oberle sausage, smoked pork loin, garlic cheese and a wide selection of other prepared meats […]