Gifts

I’ve never understood the fuss over gold and frankincense and myrrh. I doubt that Mary and Joseph could use such gifts; except to pawn them in Bethlehem for food and lodging. Why not diapers for…

Becalmed

There were years when every December day counted as five. When I shortchanged the state by hours in order to cram in tasks, the list of which ate up whole pages in my calendar, not…

They Call the Wind Mariah

Give me wind.  Maybe not the howling gale that keeps Great Falls listing to the east. Maybe not the bully gusts that stiff-arm semis off the road.  Maybe not fire winds, the ominous, searing furnace…

Mountain Ash

I watch my neighbor Mary’s mountain ash tree like a hawk.  Or more accurately, like a magpie, a robin, a cedar waxwing, though I’m not scouting a meal.  Rather leaning into the elusive magic of…

Welcome Winter

Well, there are only so many words I can lay down on paper or, for that matter, speak out loud about my thoughts on winter. In the end, they boil down to NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! And still…

Fear

Where did you come from? And how do I cram you back into a box and seal the lid shut? How on earth did you–the demon I so vowed to slay–slither back into my world…

Big Marcella*

I was almost named for a woman called Marcella. The answer could have been a joyful “yes” and yet my parents dodged the question when I ask straight out. I’m forever puzzled. So I’ve taken…

Listening for Spring

At the sturdy 1950s rancher on Choteau Street, there were early May nights when I’d go to the garage to feed the resident rabbit tribe. And I heard the world growing. I’d come inside to…

The House on Choteau Street

On February 14, 1986, Dave’s bended knee marriage proposal arrived in his Valentine’s card. Without knowing his intentions or what his heart might say, the card I’d already written for him just said yes. Yes,…

The Lost Chord

“If you cannot teach me to fly, teach me to sing.” M Barrie quote from Peter Pan They’d tricked four- year- old me into thinking that a tonsillectomy would be a short adventure followed by…