State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Writing

  • Back in Business

    It took less time than I thought to pick a new theme and change the look of my blog. Beginning tomorrow, it is back to a normal posting schedule. I re-wrote the about page, which can be accessed here. A new paragraph provides insight into why I named the blog Journey Home: I’ll be 75… Read more

  • Site Renovations Continue

    Redesign of my blog will take a few days. Thanks for visiting and for your patience while I determine what this will look like. Read more

  • To Every Season

    I posted for 190 consecutive days and plan to pause for a while. Several things consumed my energy which needs recharging, something important to sustaining this bloggery. I plan to write more about process, although today I don’t know what to say. A writer has a distinct ecosystem from which words spring. Consideration of that… Read more

  • A Day Begins

    I wake in the middle of the night with the sun well positioned below the horizon. What light exists comes from stars, the moon, airglow, or the indirect light of nearby never-sleeping cities. I am awake, but don’t want to be. Sometimes I get up and walk to the kitchen for a drink of water,… Read more

  • Advance Reader Copies

    I took back roads to the printer in Coralville to pick up advance reader copies of A Working Life, the second part of my autobiography. Getting to this point was a high water mark in the struggle to write it that began in 2010. There is a story in this book, one I hope finds… Read more

  • Time Management While Aging

    I spent time Sunday working on how to use my time. The two parts were structuring days into time blocks and working to better define tasks listed for accomplishment. This post details some of what I did. The natural breaks in my days at home are by time. These time periods follow a natural rhythm… Read more

  • Lilacs Bloom

    Spring flowers bloom briefly.   We take them in.Lilacs— their fragrance,   soft on the eye.In the 1960s neighbors grew them   everywhere—   then spring gave way      and they were gone.I planted lilacs in this place:   a fresh start rooted in memory.Enough to share—   now they line the street.Before summer’s heat, we pause,   breathe them in again,      and… Read more

  • Return to Iowa

    Following are opening paragraphs to a chapter of my work in progress, A Working Life. They begin a section on moving to Big Grove Township in 1993. It occurred to me the second paragraph should happen and I spent an inordinate amount of time crafting it. This opening stands up, I believe. Big Grove Township… Read more

  • On Being a Writer

    My current book is heading for home and each new day of editing brings a sense of impending completion. Being a career logistician, I consider process: By June, copies for early readers; then another edit; then fund-raising, printing, and distribution. Having written it, the work ahead is answering questions about whether it is the best… Read more

  • Books, Too Many Books

    We are out of storage space in the house, so something has to go. Before the library’s March 7, annual used book sale, I donated more than 600 books. It was pleasurable seeing them laying on tables in the main meeting room while people browsed through them. I hadn’t realized how many French language books… Read more