[Grand Niece Lottie] They say it’s good to get outdoors. My doctor told me, “You need to get out and break a sweat every day.” I said, “O I try to take a walk every day…” He interrupted me. “You are not in your 80’s. You are in your 60’s. You need serious exercise and you […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | June 27, 2022 | A Michigan Saturday Night
It’s my day off. I’m by the open window and the catbirds are singing like the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. I’ve been riding my bike (Brutus) on the Falling Waters Trail of late. This morning I logged 15.4 miles on a perfect morning. At the moment it is sunny and breezy–a delightful summer day. Lois and […]
Sprayed With Cheap Perfume
I’m springin’ forward. Are you springin’ forward? All God’s chillin’ springin’ forward. See you in the mornin’ Bethel family…. WARNING: STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS WRITING TO FOLLOW. Years ago I was asked to speak in Illinois for a week at a gathering of churches. Dan and Wes went with me. We stayed in the basement a […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | February 8, 2022 | A Decorated Athelete
Sunday was sunny and warm-er than it has been lately. At Bethel Church, right after the bells, we opened with the baptism of a new believer, a young woman who turned from New Age beliefs to Christ by reading thorough the Bible. We celebrated the Lord’s Supper and I finished my series on Finishing Faithful […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | February 2, 2022 | Snow Day on Bittersweet
Snow Day on Bittersweet Farm It’s a snow day out on Bittersweet Farm. Snow days are “hole-up-and-write” days for me. I get up in the corner of my room next to the window looking out on the woods across the road to the south, and I put my head down and write. A couple years […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | January 8, 2022 | Hardships of Winter
Adien Redemption wanted to visit my writing loft… Bittersweet Farm Journal—January 8, 2022 The kids and grandkids except the New Mexico and Texas Pierponts (we hope to fly down there and enjoy some of their warm sunshine this winter) came and went from Bittersweet Farm during the holidays or we saw them in their homes. […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | December 8, 2021 | And Christmas Came
Out on Bittersweet tonight there is a light dust of snow on the ground an it is cold outside. Lois is listening to the news and weather and pouring candles and intermittently singing. I love it when she is happy. It warms the whole house. I’m up in the corner of my cozy room in […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | December 2, 2021 | A Christmas Fight
Last Sunday when I got home from church it was sunny and warm enough for me to brush the last of the leaves from the flowerbeds and coil the hose for the winter. This Sunday we awoke to three inches of snow. I rose at five and plowed and two days later I plowed an […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | November 14, 2021 | Are You Ready?
We moved from Central Ohio to Northern Michigan late in November of 1996. It seemed so far north to us at the time. It felt like we were driving to Siberia… One thing I noticed right away was how seriously Michiganders up there took their winter apparel. People in Northern Michigan didn’t just wear a […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | November 3, 2021 | The Quasimodo Shuffle
It’s 5:30 am. I get up and start into the bathroom. The house is dark and quiet. Halfway there I begin to chuckle when I realize the I am shuffling exactly like Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. It’s my birthday week and I started a new year and my body objects to the […]