Happy Father’s Day! I hope you are celebrating with your dad today. But if you can’t, I hope you are enjoying a flood of happy memories of him, as I am. Here are two old photos of Dad, whom we lost in 1996. Both were taken on the farm where I grew up near Davenport, Iowa. Dad was proud of my brother and me, and also proud of his great corn crop that year. Yes, […]
A home is who you are, not who you ought to be. —Jill Robinson
Sunset is one of our loveliest times at Maples at the Sonatas. There is so much to savor in this time of transition. And then comes nighttime, which is downright magical. Darkness settles gently, gradually over the neighborhood, bringing with it an altered perspective. Our homes, our lawns, our streets — everything so familiar that we may not even see it any more — all becomes subtly new, demanding a second look. ••• It’s a […]
Dream As if You’ll Live Forever, Live As if You’ll Die Today. –James Dean
“You see this goblet?” Chaa asked, holding up a glass. “For me, this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; drink out of it. It holds water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on a shelf and the wind knocks it over and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ […]
Martin Luther King Day has never meant more to me than it does today, as we celebrate it for the 30th time. I’ve said this before, but I can’t help repeating myself. With commercialization eroding our major holidays, I love the lesser ones more and more. I have vivid memories of April 4, 1968, the day that King was assassinated. I was a junior in college and attended the campus memorial service with an English […]
No one can say that 2014 was an uneventful year for Maples at the Sonatas. We had more than our share of ups and downs. Fortunately, most of the downs were accompanied by ups. Our list of injuries and serious illnesses was longer than anyone would have predicted at this time last year. The positive to come from the situation, of course, is the way we volunteered to help those in need. Certainly, none of […]
So much to be thankful for today: • my country and my community • the health and resources to still be able to cook a modest Thanksgiving dinner on my own • my lovely Abbey kitchen in which to work • my 94-year-old mom with me for dinner • my two guests who are so accepting that I could serve anything and they would like it • you, the readers who make this blog […]
It’s a dark, cold, blustery day here, most appropriate for somber memories. As we move through our mundane lives, I’m sure many of us will find ourselves reflecting on that day 13 years ago. I haven’t done this before, but I’m going to rerun my post from last year. Today is certainly deserving of fresh thoughts and new photos. But I don’t think I can do better than this. ••• I remember. I was teaching […]
The question that he frames in all but words Is what to make of a diminished thing. –from The Oven Bird by Robert Frost The majority of my friends no longer have a living mother to celebrate with today. I know that. I am grateful that Mom is alive at 93 and that she was able to spend a few hours with me this afternoon. But— Mom was diagnosed with mild dementia about seven years […]
Do you feel it too? For me, holidays always bring back memories of the celebrations of my childhood. I can close my eyes today and see us so clearly. It is Easter. There is my family—Mom, Dad, Craig, Aunt Clara, Uncle Jack, and me—all in our farm house, sitting around the dining room table. It is set with Mom’s best china and the silverware that she kept in a velvet-lined wooden box except for special […]
That phrase has been stuck in my mind for a while now. The January-type weather that began tormenting us in November appears ready to last into March. Endless snow events and eternally frigid temperatures have tag-teamed us for far too long. It gets downright depressing when there’s no end in sight. Nowadays we talk about cabin fever and seasonal affective disorder. But Shakespeare said it better when he opened Richard III with these words: “Now […]
This is the title slide of a presentation I’ll be making at the Wilcox Communities National Conference in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday. Proud, honored, scared. This is how I’m feeling as I finish practicing my remarks and begin packing my suitcase. Oh, and as I keep checking the weather. We are under a snow advisory tomorrow. Yes, another one. Just before Christmas, Ember, who is executive assistant to Jamie Wilcox, called and asked if I […]
A year ago tomorrow, on February 9, 2013, I took a deep breath, and another, crossed my fingers and toes, and then clicked on the Publish button that launched this blog. Home Sweet Abbey went live with my first post, My Journey Home, and a short About the Author article. I had drafts of two more posts ready to go and a list of perhaps 7 or 8 ideas to draw on beyond that. I […]
This morning, Mark, one of my Facebook friends, updated his status to read: I think I’ve used the word ‘hunker’ more in the last 30 days than I’ve used it in my entire life. Me too, Mark. Me too. When I wrote about our extremely cold weather three weeks ago, I thought it was a unique event worthy of a post. So I wrote The Fine Art of Hunkering Down. But here we are again […]
By now, you may have seen this morning’s ugly numbers in Woodstock, IL: temperature -18 wind chill -43 Today we have no school, no public library, no garbage pickup, no shopping in my favorite stores. And at Maples at the Sonatas: no Wilcox staff, no construction workers, no potential buyers. Almost no people or vehicles to be seen outside. I’ve lost track of how much snow we have on the ground because it has fallen […]
I wish we could “pause” time like we can a video, or even live TV. If it were possible, I’d be hitting and holding that pause button today, on January 1, 2014. To me, there is nothing more full of hope than a fresh start, a blank page, an opportunity for a do-over. New Year’s Day gives us those gifts. If the day fell in any season other than winter, it would be perfect. But […]
“I do not know which to prefer… The blackbird whistling Or just after.” These lines by poet Wallace Stevens sum up my feelings about holidays in general and today in particular. The feeling of gratitude, the feasting, and the fellowship of Thanksgiving make it one of my favorite holidays. But equally as much, I savor the time when the activity winds down and the guests leave. That is when I quietly reclaim my space. With […]
My father, Carl Dierksen, tried very hard to become a veteran. And I guess he technically would qualify as one, though he never claimed the honor. He was 22 when he and my mother married in 1940. The following year, during World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, both to serve his country and to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. Dad reported to a base in Florida, where he had completed […]
All summer long, a planter full of petunias and vinca vines sat on my patio. It was pretty for months, but as we got deeper into October, the plants grew long and scraggly and unattractive. Then they were nipped by frost. And so, a few days ago, I decided it was time to let them go. I slid the planter away from the outside wall of my home and lifted it to carry over to […]
Home Sweet Abbey 