Have you ever missed a night of sleep? Or what about 3 or 4 nights in a row? You feel nutty as hell, right? Like, you're not firing on all cylinders; a cell phone with one lowly bar and 2% battery. OK, now what about when you get a good night's sleep, or 3 or 4 good sleeps in a …
Winter Solstice
How to Dream
I've used the image above as a Winter Solstice reminder for many years. It's a woodcut by artist Mary Azarian (brilliant, amazing, buy everything she makes). The image is of a woman sitting in her warm house, snug under a quilt, leafing through a seed catalog while it pours snow …
A Winter Morning
I wake up before dawn. I pad downstairs to the kitchen, glowing in the light of my grandmother's ceramic Christmas tree, to fill the kettle for coffee. I check the thermometer; 50 degrees in and 29 degrees out. I build a fire in the wood stove. Two big logs side by side, then paper …
Rest Ye
Once upon a time, I spent 4 days in the hospital recovering from surgery. And I loved it. What I loved most was middle of the night. I'd wake up just enough to sense a nurse standing very near me, touching my arms, tucking me in, reading my vitals. Sometime a doctor would come in …
Santa Claus
I've always loved Christmas. And I've always believed in Santa Claus. I believed in Santa unquestioningly until the 4th grade when one of my friends told me he didn't exist. This friend made perfect sense, describing the parents loading the stockings after the kids had gone to bed and …