column

If you have ever read any of my articles before, you can probably tell that I am quite particular with how I phrase things. Now, in another country, I am learning that communication can be a bit more complicated when you are with people who aren't native speakers of English, despite...

There are some experiences that give people stereotypes or affect how others view them. In the U.S., those lines were clearly defined to me. However, in this different culture, I have started to realize that it's less black and white and based more on other factors than society's...

We can't always control our circumstances, but we can always hope, and God will guide us down the right path if we let Him. It might turn out different than expected, and it's hard to see this through the chaos. Despite this, I am glad to see how it has worked in my life and excited...

"You ought to gather a bunch of your articles and put them in a book." Columnists get advice even when they're not asking for it. The advice I've been getting more and more is to do a book. I did that years ago under the title of The Day The World Ran Out Of Denim. It was a hassle....

"We're that family," my sister Kathryn remarked once again this past Thanksgiving, as all the cousins fell off their seats, in stitches from laughing so hard at pirate jokes. This phrase has been uttered at almost every family holiday and every special event we've ever attended, or...

In these modern days we toss around the HOMESTEAD word as if it were some kind of adventure. But 150 years ago the word had no such pleasant association. Even as realistic as people of the soil might have been, had they known the pain and hardships they would suffer, many plans would...

There are some words in Danish that are untranslatable. For example, "sjov" or "sjovt" means both fun and funny. That can be confusing as fun and funny have different meanings in English. However, the hardest word to translate in Danish is most definitely "hygge".

Grandma was fixing a chicken dinner for four—herself, her daughter, son-in-law and one granddaughter. They were all in the kitchen together talking. Grandma has just finished cutting the chicken. The phone rang and grandma answered.

I'm not brave. And then I was. I was so weak. But there was God's grace. It was a fight. Tears, yelling, running, stillness, laughing, vomit, fear, waiting, hoping .... All of it was a part of the fight. It was messy. I don't like messy and then I was weak and I don't like being weak....

To be seen or not to be seen -- that is the solution, not the question. With creatures great and small the world over, the colors and patterns of their coverings are much more than just protection from the elements. To be certain, few animals could survive for long without protective...

With the presidential debates currently taking place and the necessity that Democrats and Republicans receive equal time, I felt it proper to discuss this week the Remington target thrower. Recall last time we had dialogue on the Winchester thrower. These two sporting companies are...

I know I have not been alone in dealing with the frustrations of low water and poor public access conditions. I thought last year was bad, this year is worse, and I believe it is as bad as I can remember since fishing area waters for more than 30 years. I know I was also not alone...

After seven years in the same house, the longest I have abided in one abode in my adult life, the urge to clean out the corners hit last week.  If you don't move for a while, things start to accumulate.  Things like trinkets. Doo-dads. Gadgets. Cords. Books. Boxes.  And ceramics.  Ceramics...