Dance with Me
Each summer the mountains here resound with music and dancing. In case this sounds familiar, I’ve written about this before. Folkmoot dancers from around the world come to our little …
A New Processional Cross
I was recently asked to make a new cross for the Sanctuary at our church. I was told it should be able to stand as a focal point in worship …
Crystal Bridges
A stunning museum of American art in the Ozarks of northwestern Arkansas? Well, get used to it. We tried to visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2014 …
Petroglyphs at Three Rivers
Images of lizards birds sheep stuck full of arrows suns and faces …
Art and Craft at Warm Springs and Timberline Lodge
My final report on our Oregon trip begins with the Museum at Warm Springs, on the eastern flank of the Cascades north of Bend. The Warm Springs Reservation is home …
The Oregon Bach Festival
In days of violent acts and words, we all need times to center ourselves again in beauty that orders a world, in memories that give it meaning, and grandeur that …
Spirals and Labyrinths at Easter
This year our Easter experience emerged as an exploration of the spiral that is often seen to be at the source of all life, whether in the galaxies of space …
My Life with Words, Images, and Acts
Words, images, acts. They constitute the three-legged stool of my life. This is a matter of not only where I sit but of how I express myself in the world, …
How do you know?
“What do you know?” Who hasn’t uttered this frequent throw-away line in our everyday discourse. Not so usual would be to say “How do you know?” And yet, this could …
Sawdust and Soul
Over the past fifteen years I have carried on a lively conversation about woodworking with my good friend John de Gruchy—he in South Africa’s Western Cape, I in the mountains …
Faith and Poetry
Poetry arises where language meets mystery. With that beginning, my poet-friend Michael Beadle and I presented two evenings at our Methodist church on “Faith and Poetry.” In doing so, we …
Precious Cargo: Creation Flower
When Sylvia and I were planning our recent visit to South Africa, a garden committee at nearby Lake Junaluska Retreat and Conference Center asked if we might select, purchase, and …
Quill Pens and Steam Engines
Before I tell you more about my quest for the forgotten grandfather in my life, we have two places to visit. The first takes us back to the era of …
Cyprus Antiquities and Art
One of the things that has fueled our long interest in visiting Cyprus is the collection of glass and pottery that my grandparents brought back with them and that has …
Turnings in Profile
I have been spending a lot of time lately reworking the poems in a collection I am calling Turnings. I have been sending it out, in various versions, to publishers …
On Poetry, Moravians, and Public Life
Last week I joined my friend Michael Beadle to present a few of our poems to a recently formed group concerned with the relation of art to faith. Called “ArtGroup,” …