APLACECALLEDMERRYMOUNT

5/31/25 Yesterday was a glorious day at Hubbard Lake, Michigan: cloudless blue skies, a steady breeze, 65 degrees, a perfect day for a...

Here is the story of how the red field poppy came to be known as an internationally recognized symbol of Remembrance. From its...

As a family, we call ourselves the “Nautical Bunch” and we consist of a full-sized bed, a chest of drawers, and a dresser with a mirror...

5/11/25 Today will be bitter/sweet. I will enjoy a family brunch celebrating three wonderful mothers and will revel as their children...

Dogwoods, daffodils, and dandelions, Oh my! Blessed are those who live in the hills and valleys of love and delight. 'Tis the gift to be...

People across the world this week are mourning the loss of Pope Francis, who died on April 20,2025 at the age of 88.  “He was a Pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in the homily. “The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open.” “I am not a believer, but what Francis said always touched my soul,” one woman in Rome said. “I felt his human

April this Year (After Millay) April this year, is otherwise   Than Aprils from long ago; Full of tears, and full of sighs,   Unlike days with smiles aglow. Dogwoods that pleased us so Are a sight for other eyes. Memories invade me throughout the day,   My grief follows me through the doors; In orchards near and far away   Bluebirds look for you and mourn;   I earnestly try to do my chores, But daffodils stop me as they sway. Life surrounds me full and deep,   Noisy and quiet

Dad holding me while Mother looks on, circa 1953. from Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry “And now, nearing the end, I see that my life is...

On the first day of Spring 2025, my dear Mother passed into the “Soothest Sleep”.  I was blessed to be next to her when she took her...

On this March 17th, many of us will acknowledge St. Patrick’s Day and in so doing will contemplate our pot of gold to be found at the end of a rainbow.   Last week at Merry Mount, a beautiful one appeared just east of our property line.  I texted my neighbor to ask if I could borrow his backhoe to dig at the spot where the rainbow ended.  Then my memory sent me back to 1967 when as a Freshman in high school, I was casted in a musical production of “Finian’s Rainbow.”  The fol

Sonnet 24 Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath steel’d, Thy beauty’s form in table of my heart; My body is the frame wherein ’tis...

February Morning crystalized in grey the dim light exposes shapes of future bliss CPW

As the Liar in Chief takes office, the search for truth is essential. When the mind's eye rests on objects illuminated by  truth and reality , it understands and comprehends them, and functions intelligently; but when it turns to the twilight world of change and decay, it can only form opinions, its vision is confused and its beliefs shifting, and it seems to lack intelligence.  ( Plato , Republic) The truth will stand, when the world's on fire. -C. L. Woliver and Others Th

"Ice Queen" by Nathan Myhrvold / Modernist Cuisine Gallery, LLC Drawing by five year old Riley Ratliff Snow arrived at Merry Mount this week, in fact, as I write this post, I sit with wonder as I watch it snow. Like Riley's characters, I became curious about snow, and turned to: https://www.thoughtco.com/science-of-snowflakes-3444191 Snowflakes have a six-sided structure because ice does. When water freezes into individual ice crystals, its molecules stack together to form a

Resolution: To drink a cup of kindness and toast to Love, Peace, and Order. Happy New Year! CPW

A rainy night in Georgia It seems like it's rainin' all over the world -Brook Benton James Earl Carter Jr. (1924-2024)...

CPW

from our family to yours Merry Christmas! “I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the...

You better watch out, you better not cry, Better not pout, I'm telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town.   But alas, due to climate...

Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas portrait of Maria Callas Angelina Jolie viewing a portrait of Maria Callas in the portrait gallery at the...