Low’s Bridge, one of nine historic covered bridges still in existence in the state of Maine, spans the picturesque Piscataquis River between the villages of Guilford and Sangerville. The current structure is the fourth on the site. The third, built in 1857, lasted for 130 years. They knew how to build a bridge in those…
My two granddaughters were charmed by the quirky set of Russian dolls I put in their Christmas stockings when they visited Chile in December. Someday I’ll share with them the stories inside the story here. As did—surprisingly—a recent guest speaker at our church when he used a set of these dolls as an object lesson….
“What would you like to have from this house when I move?” my mother asked every time I visited her in Maine. For a decade, I hardly liked to answer. Even if she meant downsizing more than dying, it seemed sort of greedy and grabby to put dibs on her possessions. But eventually, I mentioned…
My grandmother’s antique sewing machine sat beneath a framed print of the Lord’s Prayer in her bedroom for years. Though I rarely saw her use it, I discovered her love of sewing when a pile of handmade linens appeared at my bridal shower, along with a brown octagonal tin box full of sewing notions. This…
After viewing my constantly growing collection of kitchen tins, a church friend in Coquimbo mentioned (with a smirk) that he’d seen me on TV—some program about hoarders? Although we enjoyed a good laugh at the joke, I asked myself, How did I come to be known as the tin collector in my town? In Chile…
Our lives add up to threescore and ten—seventy years to invest—plus yapa, with good health and strength (Psalm 90:10). The extra decade of life that some are blessed with beyond the average is like the few extra grams of produce they occasionally give you at the Chilean open-air markets. When weighing out potatoes, it’s hard…
