In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

Hens in the garden; the Broody hen condo, also known as the dog run, is to the upper left of the photo, taken on 17 March 2026.  Ruthie Chicken is again broody. She spent the morning in the Broody Hen condo, then was good to be outside for a few hours. She took a twenty-five minute dustbath, not that I'm keeping tabs on her, but I am, lol. She's still laying eggs, so until she either 1) Stops laying or 2) Stops being broody we are allowing her time in the nesting boxes. She prefers box #1, but will use box #3 if #1 is taken. Today is Palm Sunday. Holy Week begins tomorrow. Those are sentences; the meanings behind them are significant to me. I have several Scripture readings for the upcoming days, time to ponder all that Holy Week entails. Today Christ entered Jerusalem as victorious.  By Thursday he's celebrating Passover with the disciples, fully aware that Judas will betray him before the day ends. What does this mean for us today? A man's death, violent and cruel. Fo...

New mug rug. Fabrics are those I'm considering for the quilt explained below.... At times, this life feels, seems, looks UNFATHOMABLE. Regardless of how faithful we are to a creed, how at peace hearts remain in abject misery, how unshakeable love dwells within us, and despite the FULL SUN we're seeing here on the North Coast, the tyranny and horror and anguish and death suffered by others hits our chest muscles like we are right in the thick of all that darkness. I'm not merely thinking of what's happening in America, or the oncoming winter storm that will cause severe distress for millions in my home nation. There's Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Iran.... Massacres in Iran have quelled the protests for now. Yet thousands, perhaps upwards of thirty-three thousand, have died in one government's attempt to throttle democracy. Scores more have perished in other places, I don't wish to diminish those atrocities. But this uprising in Iran is a month old, or it was. And ot...

Which is kind of irrelevant, but my husband and I chatted about it yesterday, how the holidays were officially over, although tomorrow is Epiphany. After tomorrow, I'll put away the nativity sets and few random Christmas baubles. Christmas placemats, coasters, etc, have been landing in the laundry, then are tucked away. For all the December hub-bub, the trinkets seem irrelevant once New Year's is passed. Yet.... A deeper flame burns in my heart, a renewed pulse of my faith, of Christ, of a life lived not for self. Of a wisdom that makes no sense in what the world views as success, what I read about last night in 1 Corinthians 1:1-25. And in reading aloud a chapter from Nothing More Complicated: The Hawk Book Four , I am reminded how the horrors of this world are recycled time and again because we as a human race can't seem to grasp that love matters most. Not power or money or whatever seems to churn the engines of governments. This time last year I was swamped by last-min...