Mama Mondays I’m not one to get excited about cleaning. Oh, I know those sorts of people exist — the kind who take special pleasure in making their homes sparkle, whose hardwood floors could be licked if the occasion called for it. I, however, am in the camp of those who see most domestic work [...]
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Aug 31
Aug 29
soulful saturdays: sanctification through parenting
Soulful Saturdays My summer with the Salonen zoo kids has come to an end. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am so grateful that I have been able to stay home with our children during their most tender years. But I’m not quite ready to be a martyr for the cause. And yet, some days, being [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 27
7 quick takes friday (vol. 20)
After a couple weeks off, I’m back with a flash of the week past. —1— "The amen of nature is always a flower." — Oliver Wendell Holmes Worth repeating. I’m borrowing this quote from my friend, Maria, who shared it with our writers’ listserv earlier this week. My longtime readers know that I’m wild over [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 26
first day back and all’s well
And, courtesy of my friend Jill from the "first-day-back coffee cry/cheer session:"
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 25
writing wednesdays: the deception of blogging
Writing Wednesdays “So, I’ve been wondering about something,” a friend asked the other day. “How do you discern what you put into your blog and what you leave out? I mean, do you ever feel like you’re being deceptive about what your life is really like?” Surprisingly, perhaps, I welcomed the question. It’s something I’ve [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 25
forum column (august 09): motherhood viewed from a monastery lens
Parenting Perspectives: Nuns provide insight to mom Roxane B. Salonen, INFORUM Published: 08/25/2009 The grounds of St. Benedict’s Monastery in the summertime are a visual spa to the summer-worn mother. Gardens burst with the fruits of spring labor and flowers dance along pathways. One walkway leads to a goldfish pond, where sitting still and breathing [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 25
forum column (august 09): motherhood viewed from the monastery lens
Parenting Perspectives: Nuns provide insight to mom Roxane B. Salonen, INFORUM Published: 08/25/2009 Gardens burst with the fruits of spring labor and flowers dance along pathways. One walkway leads to a goldfish pond, where sitting still and breathing slowly is all that’s required. For two summers, I’ve been treated to a writing residency at this [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 23
mama mondays: are you ready?
Mama Mondays “Are you ready…for school to start?” It’s the question of the day within parenting circles about now, a cyclical sort of inquiry that emerges like clockwork a week or so before each school year begins. The question is part rhetorical, part connector, not unlike, “So, how about the weather?” It’s a fairly safe [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 21
faith fridays: the big question
Faith Fridays Toward the end of my last session with my spiritual director, he asked this question: "Why are you here?" I paused for a moment, wondering if he might have meant, "What are you doing here in my office?" But it took only a short time to realize that, no, he was asking the [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 19
writing wednesdays: one person, one story
Writing Wednesdays For today’s writing post, I’m borrowing words from several exchanges I’ve had this week with writer/author friends. The first one came while I was at St. Ben’s. My friend L and I were discussing the writing process, and she said that at a conference she attended recently, one of the presenters shared that [...]
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