Kandern has been encased in thick fog for several days. (These first two photos courtesy of Sandee Shuman. She’s a great photog!) It’s not the wispy, whimsical fog that makes you want to whisper as you walk through cloud-feathered hills.  It’s a shroud–the kind of opaque whiteness that makes a person feel so heavily […]

(Facebook readers, please click here to be redirected to the actual site: https://www.xanga.com/serenitymine) Four weeks ago yesterday, I had a meltdown.  Oh, you might presume I’m exaggerating.  Michele Phoenix, the fearless Miss Phiphi, the courageous cancer-overcomer, wouldn’t have a full-blown, twelve-Kleenex-alert emotional Tchernobyl…would she?  She’s too tough.  Too pragmatic.  Too…  Human.  That’s what I am.  […]

(Reading on Facebook?  Oh, PLEASE do click on the following link before reading on.  The pictures simply must be seen in their original context!    https://www.xanga.com/serenitymine) I know I should be getting ready for a big evening out–doing my hair, painting my nails, pulling out my party dress (which, in my case, is a dress […]

(If you’re reading on Facebook, please click here before going on…it’s much prettier and the pictures look better!  https://www.xanga.com/serenitymine) I caught myself listening to melancholic Christmas music yesterday.  With so many bright and cheerful CDs in my possession, I wondered what it is that occasionally draws me to that one track that’s either subdued or […]

If you live in a remote village of Africa, the sound might have been a bit muted.  But if you live anywhere within a 1,000 mile radius around Basel, Switzerland, you most certainly heard the over-the-top celebrating that happened at about 11:30 on Wednesday morning.  I had entered the “klinik” 20 minutes earlier for my […]

WARNING:  If you were ever in my Creative Writing class, please don’t read on.  You may suffer irrevocable literary damage, and I wouldn’t want to be blamed for sabotage-by-puny-poetry!  NOTE:  Given the topic of this entry, I’m sure you’ll understand that I’ve provided no illustrations…DISCLAIMER:  The  cartoon at the end of this entry might be […]

(Facebook readers, please click here to be redirected:  https://www.xanga.com/serenitymine.) And here I was wanting to write a terrifically positive post in which I’d bypass the usual topics (tumors, radiation, barbaric medical procedures!) and focus instead on my mom’s recent visit and last night’s Christmas banquet.  But I received an email yesterday from a person I […]

(Reading on Facebook?  Please don’t…  The captions and text all get unformatted and you’ll end up terribly confused.  Click here instead to be redirected:  https://www.xanga.com/serenitymine) Here’s the problem with snow:  I’m supposed to like it.  I mean, everybody does, right?  I’m supposed to get excited and talk about making snowmen and snow angels and throwing […]

(Please click here before going any farther if you’re reading on Facebook:  https://www.xanga.com/serenitymine) “Gratitude sublimates the mundane into the divine.”It was Thanksgiving at BFA this week, and I got to spend it at the dorm, surrounded by many of the people I love.  The pictures below might not give you an accurate idea of the […]

[Reading on Facebook?  Please click here to be redirected to the site where the layout will be viewed best: https://www.xanga.com/serenitymine]    “What God cares about, with all the power of God’s holy being, is the quality of my life…not just the continuation of my breath and the health of my cells–but the quality of my […]