Do you remember a teacher (or teachers) who impacted you profoundly as you were growing up? To celebrate World Teachers’ Day on October 5, today’s post offers a tribute to dedicated educators around the globe and the vital role they play in so many lives, young and old. My upcoming book Legacy of the Linnenbrink…
The popular substitution of farm-churned butter with factory-made margarine (or “oleo,” as my mother used to call it) happened before I was born. Parkay, Chiffon, and Blue Bonnet trended in my parents’ generation and followed me to Chile… Where I discovered that even moderately respectable culinary establishments served no substitutes for real golden butter alongside…
During a recent visit to Canada, old friends took us beachcombing on the Northumberland coast of Nova Scotia. There, I received a practical course in sea glass hunting. Neither I—nor my friends, the experts—found amazing museum-quality pieces, but we picked up handfuls of pebbles, shards, and even grains in a variety of beautiful colors—white, aqua,…
What if I told you all the myths of Chiloé are true…from a certain point of view? A certain point of view? That little phrase—and the echoing question—comes from the original Star Wars Trilogy. You may remember the classic scene from Return of the Jedi where a disillusioned Luke Skywalker accuses Obi-Wan Kenobi of deceiving…
Last Sunday afternoon during our weekly walk on Totoralillo Beach—a three-minute drive from our home—I found a piece of sea glass. Emerald green, like a Sprite or Perrier water bottle. Still more glittery than glistening. Not cutting-edge sharp, but not rounded smooth either. I’m reminded that, like writer-blogger Bernadette Noll, “I want to age like…
Back in the decade we lived in Chile’s Chiloé Islands, a hippie sort of bookshop lay tucked between our favorite restaurant, El Sacho, and the Castro Hostería where we’ve just spent the night. The place was called Light Years, and this morning as I wake up, I still feel light years out of my comfort…
As you scroll down a few paragraphs, you’ll see the cover for Destiny at Dolphin Bay revealed. This first book of mine, written during our last year in Chile’s Chiloé Islands, has had almost as many trial tapas as opening chapters. But today we’re unveiling the final cover. The design you find here combines many…
Reading through Dr. Bernardo Quintana’s mythology treatise, Chiloé Mitológico, I’m struck once again by the background motivation of fear in so many of the rites and rituals, tall tales and strictly-timed tasks. Fear of the spirits and the sickness they cause. Terror of darkness and death and the dead, as manifested in the story of…
The name of the Chiloé Islands’ legendary ghost ship, the Caleuche, literally means “shapeshifter.” It derives from the Huilliche words, caleutún, meaning “to change condition,” and che, “people.” Possibly chosen because of the ship’s many transformations, the name could also refer to the changes in its crew from dead to alive, from torment to bliss,…
It happened again last week—I read another Christian book that started out with SOOO much potential. Until it petered out in a light gloss of forgiveness and a pinch of repentance. Well, okay. We surely need to forgive and sometimes we ought to repent. But whatever happened to a life-changing crisis of character? Without a…
“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…
Can I share a secret? Hiding behind my mask, I’ve saved a bundle this year on face cream, lipstick, and even (gasp!) toothpaste. What I’ll look like when I finally emerge from the cocoon may alarm the neighbors. We so often leave unattended what nobody else can see, where no outsider will notice. You…