“Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions,or even at their difficulty,as the love with which we do them.”– St Therese of Lisieux A few days ago, I asked myself a question: When does it feel like I am the most loving to myself? Answer: writing, reading, resting, and praying. … Continue reading Guide My Heart, Ohio Part 12
Ohio
Full of Grace, Ohio Part 11
“Grace is not part of consciousness;it is the amount of light in our souls, not knowledge nor reason.”- Pope Francis This morning I rise with the sun, put on a blue skirt, sweater and coat, hop on my bike and ride across the bridge for a holy day of obligation: the Feast of the Immaculate … Continue reading Full of Grace, Ohio Part 11
Trigger Warning, Ohio Part 10
TRIGGER WARNING! Today my girl turns 21And as much as I wantTo post the chronologyOf her from infancy,I am honoringBoth her wishAnd her accomplishment:The completion of the firstAnd largest componentOf the sculptureShe has been creatingFor over two years “But I Misunderstood:[6 houses and a porch]”Is part of an ongoing pieceThat includes much moreCalled “Gratified Bulimia” … Continue reading Trigger Warning, Ohio Part 10
Lead, Ohio Part 9
A baby sock. A baby bottle nipple. Poker chips. A domino. A yellow “Sorry” piece. Dice. A container of red glitter. Marbles. Broken glass. Even when I thought the area around the convent was cleaned up, I would find another piece of broken glass. And another marble. One made me fear for bare feet and … Continue reading Lead, Ohio Part 9
Digging for the Bone*, Ohio Part 8
The obstacle is the path.Tara Brach On January 1st, 2022, I pulled out the scrapbooks for the past year and scrolled through the pages. In many ways we are too close to see what we have done. In many ways each year is a lifetime. When I thought about a word for this year—a practice … Continue reading Digging for the Bone*, Ohio Part 8
Re-Wild, Ohio Part 7
There is nothing of me that is alone and absolute except my mind,and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself,it is only the glitter of the sun on the surface of the waters.-DH Lawrence* Themes that keep arising: home, childhood, sacredness, intuition, rivers, ancestry. The place where I find myself today … Continue reading Re-Wild, Ohio Part 7
To Stevedore and More, Ohio Part 6
The sun shines not on us, but in us.The rivers flow not past, but through us.- John Muir Rivers are roads which move.- Blaise Pascal Over the past year we have been living in a small, closely knit community in eastern Ohio. Its tight-knittedness is partly because of its size and partly because of an … Continue reading To Stevedore and More, Ohio Part 6
Squaring the Circle, Ohio Part 5
First weeks of June. 85-100 degrees. 99% humidity. The latest from our Ohio project. If you were to create a square out of the land and three buildings in our project, until a few weeks ago, you would have seen a fourth structure in the northwest quadrant. A house overcome with weeds climbing into windows, … Continue reading Squaring the Circle, Ohio Part 5
Open Doors, Ohio Part 4
On the first night I arrived in Ohio to stay, G gave me a tour of the house on the river—the former rectory—and all of the demolition work she had done in the month of my absence. A bat soared across the room vanishing into the darkness. A few days later I grabbed my work … Continue reading Open Doors, Ohio Part 4
A New Season, Ohio Part 3
Broken glass. So much broken glass. Wet basement. Leaking roof. Piles of lumber to de-nail and repurpose. Piles of brick. Dumpster after dumpster after dumpster. And yet. In spite of my lack of diligence, grass has seeded and is growing in place of much of the massive former church parking lot. Pathways are re-bricked. The … Continue reading A New Season, Ohio Part 3
Where I End & She Begins 