Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
My son was up here for a visit last week. We explored this neighborhood a bit together and found our way up to the Town Cow Pasture Trails a few blocks from my house. This three mile trail loop is pure magic. Slate-bottomed streams, huge old maples, lichen-covered spruce, old orchard remnants, tumbled stone walls,… Continue reading A Meditative Spell to Find the Lost
Lately, I've been musing on the debate between those who claim that human nature is inherently selfish and those who say that we are oriented to cooperation and care. I am beginning to think that this is artificial, that the drive to name our nature is, in fact, an urge to excuse our actions. It… Continue reading The Wednesday Word: 18 August 2021
I began reading Mark Bittman’s Animal, Vegetable, Junk this week. This might be another formative book. It is trending in that direction. Bittman is tackling our recently soured relationship to food. I can say from experience that this is a daunting writing project, one that I approach obliquely in most of my writing. So I… Continue reading The Wednesday Word: 11 August 2021
I spent today marinating my hands in capsaicin. I roasted, chopped and froze twenty pounds of Big Jim chiles. It took about seven hours in my rather small oven. For over an hour afterwards, my hands were searing. I don’t think my skin would have felt any worse if it was actually on fire. But… Continue reading The Wednesday Word: 4 August 2021
People have always climbed mountains to gain wisdom. Perhaps it is the embodied metaphor of height, perhaps the clear, thin air. Maybe it is merely the belief that there is meaning in the arduous task itself. But I think it might also be true that mountains offer most people their only escape from others. Mountains… Continue reading The Wednesday Word: 28 July 2021
This painting is called Elizabeth the Corn Maiden. Of course, I had to buy it. Today is Flitch Day in England. As in “side of bacon”. I had no idea bacon had its own day. Seems appropriate that it should fall in the middle of the Dog Days. (No, I’m not fond of bacon. Nor… Continue reading Beyond Summer
The worst holiday of the year approaches. This is the dog's assessment. I generally concur, only I'm not too into American Thanksgiving either. For sort of similar reasons. I just don't believe in this country's narratives. No, it's worse than that. I don't approve of this country's narratives. I don't like these foundational stories and… Continue reading The Wednesday Word: 30 June 2021
For 23 June 2021 Last week I received a few more responses, all good. But one made me laugh. And it made me realize I'd put sanctify into a somewhat limiting mind-box. I thought I'd share this submission, particularly for anyone else similarly afflicted. Here is Sanctify by Larry Johnson. Sanctify was a good little… Continue reading The Wednesday Word
Silence was met with mostly silence. This is not unexpected. However there was more interest than I would have expected for a new thing, enough of it positive that I shall keep going. Stefanie, author of A Stone in the River, threw this up there: We think of silence as the absence of sound. But… Continue reading The Wednesday Word
I’ve thought of something I can do with Wednesdays! I participate in various prompts and puzzles on Twitter. I find it helps to keep an old mind limber, being forced to think and create using some idea that is not native to my brain. It forces new perspective. It’s also great fun. And it is… Continue reading The Wednesday Word
By My Solitary Hearth 