Home from the hospital! Home from my husband’s bypass surgery. I  don’t even know what to say! God is good: how’s that? I  don’t know why, thus far, we have been granted mercy. But one week after my dear Big Bison of a husband had a heart attack out in our “yard”,  and three days …

Aslan isn’t the only one. Or, to mix a metaphor, something I have NEVER been shy about doing, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride Rolls On. I don’t think I’m ready to recount the whole tale yet, but I want to record it all, truly, I do, in its entirety. Suffice it to say that on Wednesday, …

My dear husband had a heart attack. I can’t even believe it as I am writing it. I’m not going to try to dress things up, or find just the right way to say it. Plain and simple, on Monday evening at dinner time, while the chicken was roasting, he told me he thought I …

As many of you know, I hold Osama Bin Laden (well, at least, his death, and the heightened security alert and greater restrictions on what you can fly with) personally responsible for the regrettable shape that my hair was in since Monday of last week. My perfectly wonderful hairdresser, who now resides in Houston, was …

Last week was my dear husband, the Big Bison’s, birthday and I made him a cake. I have no skillz whatsoever in cake decorating, but my daughter and I did what we could. Thought you might appreciate seeing our lowly homespun efforts. Wanna see what we did? Grazing. In all his glory. Aerial view: pardon …

23 years later.     This picture was taken 23 years ago, and is the best of the last of the pictures that I have of my Mom. She died 5 months after I got married, and one week before I turned 30. My sister ended up with a lot of the family photographs, so …

 You know, I can stand a lot of things. For instance, I can stand the fact that the flying experience has now been forever spoiled for the rest of us by the stupid terrorists. Flying USED to be fun. It USED to be an enjoyable, relaxing way to travel. But now, it requires trying to …

I’ve been thinking a lot about the 1960’s lately. It was the decade of my early childhood, of course, but I’ve also been re-visiting the ’60’s in my imagination, lately. First, I recently finished reading The Help, a book about African-American women working as maids in the homes of well-to-do white families in Jackson, Mississippi, …

The Boonies: before the trees budded. What the heck was I thinking when I named this blog “Wildlife in the Woods”?  (I actually know the answer to this question: I was thinking about the wildlife that lives in my woods, and the fact that life can get a little wild from time to time, and …

Here is the promised recipe for Butt Rub, that goes on Boston Butt/Pork Shoulder before you put it on the smoker. My dear husband, the Big Bison, found the recipe on line, and he has no idea where he found it. We altered it, anyway, to suit our own tastes, by using smoked paprika instead …

This morning, as my eyes opened, I stretched, and did a little personal physical inventory. I had a bit of a headache, but not too terrible. I continued stretching. “What day is it?” It’s Friday. That’s why my dear husband, The Big Bison, isn’t in the bed, because every Friday morning he gets up and …

What I should be doing? WRITING. I have a potential opportunity to contribute some recipes to a cookbook that Harvest House is talking about putting out, and I’ve been dragging my feet about actually writing the recipes, because, I am scared of failing. What else should I be doing? BLOGGING. I want to talk about …

So here’s what I’ve noticed: First off, there are some amazing, AMAZING  writers out there in the blogosphere. Secondly, many of my favorites don’t necessarily speak my cultural language. They don’t all have my world view. Yet, they are as tasty as a recipe that I try from what, to me, is a completely foreign …

When it comes to reading the Bible, in general, I’m an NIV girl. (That’s the New International Version, for all you non-jargonized readers. And, by the way, if you are among the non-jargonized, I’m over the moon delighted you’re here, reading this. Welcome!) I tend to go for the NIV because it was presented to …

What do you look for in a leader? Does that question bring an image to your mind? Maybe an image of a great American president that you have admired? Someone with a keen intellect? Someone who exudes charm, wit, charisma? Someone who’s handsome? Someone whose brilliance lights up the room? Who has “it”? Here’s a …