View from the sheepfold
Seeking Answers
Do You Have Questions Left Unanswered? Not knowing often makes life more difficult. We seek the answers to our questions about life, questions about loss, disaster, misfortune, or illness. Finding the answers may help us process life’s challenges, sorrow, and...
Bathtub Races and a President?
BATHTUB COMMEMORATION In Moravia, N.Y., a small town on the south end of Owasco Lake in central New York, is Fillmore Glen State Park, named in honor of Millard Fillmore, the thirteenth president of the United States. Fillmore, elected vice president in 1849, became...
Forty-Six Years and Counting
July 14, 1973, our wedding day. We had met a year before, and he asked me to marry him. We had set the date and place, asked the pastor to marry us, and been through the required premarital counseling sessions. We had chosen our...
Family Musings
Summer—a time for picnics, vacations, and family reunions. I enjoy attending family reunions because it’s the only time I connect with some of my relatives, and I like being with family. I must confess, however, as each new generation appears, I lose track of who...
The Truth About Happily-Ever-After
THE TRUTH ABOUT HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER When God created Adam and Eve, He also instituted marriage. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) Because the two are now one, Jesus said,...
Roots That Run Deep
If you enjoy having plants in your home, as I do, you know they have basic needs: light, moisture, food, air, and heat. The plant variety determines how much of each it needs. Although there are plants that grow without soil, such as air plants, most plants need soil...
It’s Easy to Forget
Unless I have a personal reason to remember a person or an event, it's easy to forget. People and events from the past are often crowded out in my mind by life now. With each generation, details of history are dropped from history books to be replaced by more current...
“SAY IT WITH FLOWERS”
“SAY IT WITH FLOWERS” Floriography, the language of flowers, became popular during the Victorian era. Many kinds of messages were sent via flowers. In fact, floriography became so complicated that dictionaries were created to explain the meaning of floral “gifts.”...
YOUR HEALTH WITH HOUSEPLANTS
Did you know that house plants can improve your physical and mental health? In the middle of winter, when dark, empty tree branches contrast with the white, snowy ground cover outdoors, I enjoy my houseplants. At a time when the outdoor flora take their winter...
A Belsnickel? What’s That?
I invited fellow-author Bonnie Swineheart to be a guest on “View from the Sheepfold.” I met Bonnie at a writers conference and learned about her book Benjy and the Belsnickel in 2018. What’s a Belsnickel? You’ll have to ask Bonnie or read her book. 1) When did you...
SOLDIER, STATESMAN, FARMER
FARMER WASHINGTON Early in the morning, Farmer Washington mounted his horse and cantered off to inspect his farms. “Agriculture has ever been amongst the most favorite amusements of my life,” he wrote. We know him as a soldier and a political leader. Without George...
SPRINGFIELD ROMANCE
One day in April, 1837, a tall, sad-looking man, dressed in a too-short, shabby suit, rode into Springfield, Illinois. Springfield was a new town on the frontier and the newly-selected state capital of Illinois. When the snow melted in the spring or after a rainstorm,...
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