Author Archives: susanmsink@gmail.com

Moroccan Camel Stew

Posted on April 21, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

A week ago, when I went into St. Cloud Meat and Grocery, one of several Somali grocery stores in town, to buy some rice, there were a couple guys in the back of the store chopping meat. I asked what … Continue reading →

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Two Months to the Summer Solstice

Posted on April 20, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

Most popular blogs tend to be about one thing. They focus on gardening, cooking, culture or politics… And the bloggers who maintain them post frequently, sometimes even daily. If this were a garden blog, each entry for the last two months would read … Continue reading →

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An Actual/Virtual Dystopia

Posted on April 16, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

Something happened on Sunday that shook me up, as it seemed to mark a change or shift in the way the world operates that is deeply unsettling. A number of people were posting on Facebook about the suicide of Canadian … Continue reading →

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We Sinners, a review

Posted on April 14, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

I just finished reading Hannah Pylväinen’s 2012 debut novel We Sinners. Of course, it caught my attention by the title alone, and the description that it was about a large family (9 children) in a Christian sect. The book is … Continue reading →

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The Habits Broadside Project

Posted on April 13, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

OK, so it turns out we weren’t exactly north of the storm… In the end, we got 10 inches of heavy snow over 30 hours. This morning, the sand hill cranes were very quiet, delaying their mating rituals until the … Continue reading →

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April

Posted on April 10, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

Hello! I know I need to blog today if only to move the homepage from Easter! We are ten days into the Easter season (Alleluia!) and slogging through the most unscenic time of the year here. We’ve continued to have highs … Continue reading →

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Preparations

Posted on March 30, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

I love hosting Easter at our house. Steve has hosted lots of family gatherings in this house, and it’s only taken me five years to relax and realize that there is an order to this and everything will work. I … Continue reading →

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The Nun’s Story

Posted on March 29, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

I just finished reading The Nun’s Story by Kathryn Hulme. It is really good. I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in why someone might choose to enter a religious order and how the discipline of religious life … Continue reading →

Posted in Benedictine monastery, religion, reviews | 5 Comments

Chinua Achebe

Posted on March 23, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

If I were making my desert island list of fiction, my top four would be, in no particular order, Bleak House, My Antonia, Middlemarch and Things Fall Apart. I initially read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe to prepare for an assignment teaching … Continue reading →

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Vernal Equinox

Posted on March 20, 2013 by susanmsink@gmail.com

Hello from the First Day of Spring in Minnesota. We’re having a good old-fashioned winter here, with more snow Monday and more snow on the way and very cold temperatures (single digits) still. When it does warm up, the kids get … Continue reading →

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