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If it snows in London, it’s like a sprinkling of wet confectioner’s sugar. Although, frozen precipitation is inevitable during the winter season, Londoners always seem completely unprepared. Sidewalks become skating rinks as commuters walked to and from work in far from suitable shoes for slippery conditions. I was one of them. Then, after having lived through a number of Massachusetts winters, on a flight from Boston to London one December, the weather forecast for England caught my eye—cold, it said, snow flurries, frost, and the possibly of icy roads. Instead of freaking out, I smiled. Years of living in northeastern America have given me aRead More →

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As I threw my collection of used plastic bags onto the back seat of my car, with the intention to drop them off at the recycling center of my local supermarket, I vowed to stop using plastic bags altogether. Of course, the dilemma is how to make purchases in a shop without having it bagged and not look like you’re shoplifting. Apart from this problem, there are other worldwide issues that need to be addressed regarding our dependence on this type of carrier. Most plastic ends up clogging up our oceans and threatening wildlife, or being an unsightly mess, as Ivory Coast discovered and isRead More →

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Christmas lights in London are never very stunning, yet in January Londoners and the city’s visitors are going to be dazzled. Huge areas of the city will be transformed with lighted art displays. An event called Lumiere London is taking place in the middle of January. It’s the second time this phenomenal cultural event has taken place. I would love to attend. The light displays will transform the iconic streets and buildings. It’s going to be spectacular. The art will entice people into the city when the restaurants and shops are struggling in the post-Christmas lull. For Londoners it’s a chance to take a second lookRead More →

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We had a wild turkey in our yard one winter. I spotted it through the window from the kitchen. “How the heck did it get inside our fenced yard?” I asked myself. It strutted menacingly—head jerking back and forth—towards the chicken coop. “It’s after their food,” I thought, “and it’s going to peck our innocent little chickens to death, I must get out there and save them.” I slid my feet into my Crocs—the nearest available pair of shoes. Not a good idea, I realized as I stepped onto the snow. I bravely placed myself, and snow-filled toes, between the giant predator and its victims.Read More →

How To Overcome Your Challenges

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I’d call myself a pretty good skier, although one particular afternoon on the slopes I faced a challenge beyond my ability, or so I thought. Skiing with my family, we took a chairlift higher up the mountain where only single and double black diamond runs—for experts only—could be accessed. Usually, we skied an easy groomed run to the right of the lift, but on this occasion my husband suggested we turn to the left and explore one of the many ungroomed runs on that side. Although a little reluctant, I agreed to the adventure. Having left the crowds behind and with our teens shooting offRead More →

God doesn’t reject you for being defective. God can use you for his perfect purpose regardless of your imperfections.

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On a visit to the Simon Pearce mill in Vermont, I saw glassblowers at work. I watched as one glassblower carefully extracted a glowing orange glob of molten glass from a searing furnace using a long metal rod, the blowpipe. The glassblower sat down and gently rolled the rod backwards and forwards and the glob took on a rounded form. He then used what looked like oversized tweezers to add, with precision, more molten glass to the glob. The man continued to add molten glass, roll, and expertly manipulate the object until it began to take shape. As it cooled, a perfectly clear and smoothRead More →