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Our summer kicked off with one of the longest trips we’ve taken – two-and-a-half weeks in Switzerland. And even with that much time, we barely scratched the surface of an interesting, complex country. What took us to Switzerland? My husband Mick, who is on the faculty of the veterinary college at the University of Minnesota, […]
Summer has, for my entire life, been travel time. Granted, it isn’t quite summer yet, but I haven’t been in Minnesota for the past week. I’ve been in Switzerland. As I write this, I’m in the capital city of Bern, where my partner Mick is attending a genetics conference. We’ve spent a good portion of […]
This week on One Minnesota Writer: Bursting #family #spring #climatechange #environment #renewal
“The Earth is what we all have in common.”—Wendell Berry “The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.”-Lady Bird Johnson It’s immensely satisfying to take a whole stack of old documents and shred them, a few sheets at a time, […]
Happy May Day! Hope someone has given you a fistful of flowers in celebration. Ancient pagans honored May Day as the beginning of summer and I’m inclined to join them this year. For me, that’s an easy call. Our summer travel is coming early this year; we are going to Switzerland later in May and […]
Early yesterday morning, while Mick and I walked our dog, a rosy finch flittered erratically above our heads, then came to rest on the asphalt not far from our feet. Its little chest heaved, its feathers were askew, and it looked at us as if to say, I don’t know why I can’t fly. We […]
Finally, the weather is nice, the sun has made an appearance, the snow is (once again) melting into oblivion. As I write this on Tuesday afternoon, clouds are moving in, clouds that have potential for a spring thunderstorm, for the sort of cleansing rain that washes winter into the storm sewer. I just spent several […]
Just as spring has begun to unfold around here, we are under a winter weather watch – a potential blizzard is bearing down on Minnesota. As I write this on Tuesday afternoon, my weather app says expected snowfall here in the next 48 hours is 8-12 inches (less than the 15 predicted yesterday), and wind […]
Yesterday, I got the nicest surprise in my snail mail. My friend Zannah Martin’s new book Song of Sarai arrived. I’ve known Zannah for many years and she’s worked on one variation or another of this story for the entire time I’ve known her, allowing me the pleasure of seeing many of those drafts. That the […]
Spring is unfolding and I’m feeling better than I’ve felt in weeks. Turns out I had a sinus infection and didn’t realize it until last week when I had such bad vertigo I couldn’t move. Plugged ears, full sinuses, ensuing dizziness – not the stuff that encourages creativity. In fact, all I could do was […]
