Category Archives: St. Joseph

Somali Scarf Shopping

I came back from my trip to warm temps, greener grass, and full-throated frogs in the wetlands. And that means I need to move from my winter hats and think about lighter headwear for summer. I tell you, I am … Continue reading

Posted in cancer, St. Joseph | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

You Are Not Alone

I know there will be times on this journey when I will feel alone. But right now a surprising thing is that it isn’t just my friends and family keeping me company– my medical care providers in a strange way … Continue reading

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Ten Years in Minnesota

As the students have been returning to the colleges here, I’ve been very aware that it was exactly ten years ago that I arrived in this place. I had come for an academic year at the Collegeville Institute, following the … Continue reading

Posted in garden, prairie, St. Joseph, the Farm | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Community

I’ve been volunteering a couple hours a month at the local food shelf. I’ve always given money to food shelves, and the most fun I ever had volunteering was sorting food and filling boxes at the Chicago Food Shelf about … Continue reading

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Where I Live

I don’t think I live in an unusual place. But then something happens to remind me that I do. Walking out to get the mail, I walk by our pumpkin-headed scarecrow, our usual fall decoration. And I see that someone … Continue reading

Posted in St. Joseph, the Farm | 2 Comments

Cemetery Committee Report

As a new pastoral council member, last night I attended the annual parish meeting. By far the best report came from the Cemetery Committee. They are a group of older men– looking for volunteers– whose cemetery management and development is … Continue reading

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Blizzard Warnings and Polar Vortexes

I hear there are places in the country where the snow is gone. Here, we have this going on: The ditch that runs along the side of the road– a pretty deep ditch, I might add– is filled with snow, … Continue reading

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Sweet 2013

  Just before Christmas we received a great gift. A pint of light yellow honey. It is one of 24 pints that were harvested from the bee colony that survived the summer on our farm. We were landlords, and it … Continue reading

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Ice

The poet Brenda Hillman was on campus a few weeks ago. She has written a book of poetry exploring the seasons in Berkeley, California. I believe she’s broken them down into about 30 micro-seasons. The two years I lived in … Continue reading

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NaNoWriMo Planning

I realized after I posted on Saturday that it was not really the word count or my ability to write during November that was making me so anxious about National Novel Writing Month. It was actually the project I’d chosen … Continue reading

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