Storms of Rathmullan Amist the storms of the Celtic sea, shadows lurk crashing doom and despair. Heaping themselves upon a shoreline of ancient ruin where farms once plowed by humble hands crested and eroded meager quantities of food, for mellow appetites of indigenous peoples. A people elect, as God’s own chosen, left the settlers that called themselves England. When King Henry entered the land aloof, this handful of brave left for a cave; a secret place they called their escape. Their story may not attract the weary traveler whom visiting ancient set erect stones at Ireland’s bay. For ..read more

  A Penny Saved   The children and I are leaving to Phoenix at midnight. It is a balmy evening as I pack a few last things. Snow is beginning to fade into spring inlets where marshes grow. I often walk down the winding path towards our lake, just to make sure. “Yep, the water is flowing and little seedlings are sprouting in towards water rushing.” On these edacious meanderings outside, I search hopingly to find the first signs of life. Never mind that spring has already been ensued with our spring break trip already planned. I am more concerned with Minnesota sprout lings and thei ..read more

  Vicarious Butterfly in Mourning Light   Vicarious butterfly swelling the cocoon, in tangerine and violet traced ebony upon sheets of glass with vibrating eyes on wings, carbon copied onto didactic panels chronologically filed on the topo graph of branches and volcano eating flesh where Pompeii saved the wings on the three day hiatus.   The antler shell, bone and cedar wood were codified by the taxonomist schema of oxidation, rust and isotopes. The forecasted reconstruction period was to be in the millennium, but hydrogen uprooted dust and the pigment of deep dark blue defe ..read more

Christina N. Beach Mother Nature Leaves Light peeks through rustling leaves as stillness creeps in mists of darkness. The holy breathe pauses to drink, gulping through straw limbs, the sweet tranquility.  M-o-t-h-e-r N-a-t-u-r-e Weeping willows, aspen trees and bracken Permeate the secret garden and the lake The breeze sings softly and whisperingly, “Come take drink and lie down to be Slumber here, I exist only for you.”   I was your mother then, child. Why did you leave me? Do you remember what I said? Yes, you screamed and turned me away while I was still drinking. I did, I am ..read more

One thing I started doing during my "I'm stuck" phase is painting.  I hadn't painted in so long and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  This is a painting I finished just before I moved to Minnesota.  I have been very busy since we moved unpacking, sorting and getting everyone in school but hope to get to start at it again sometime soon. I'm usually kind of shy about my artistic side. But going through this has definitely taught me to be less shy. It is something that I just love to do. But more importantly I wanted to say that this process has in a lot of ways brought me closer to my ..read more

SUNDAY, JULY 5, 2009 Jammin  We did some jammin this week with all the fresh strawberries that have been on sale. It was so much fun. I started out with a friend who helped me figure out the ropes to making freezer jam. We ended up buying so many strawberries that I went home the next day and jammed with the big kids. Christian only helped for a minute because apparently he is too big and cool to measure and stirnow, so I let him cook on the stove. He liked that part of course ..read more

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2011 Happy Birthday Abigail! top ten favorites: 1. Abby loves Mickey and Minnie mouse. She says she is Minnie Mouse and would like to marry Mickey someday. 2. She carries stuffed animals around with her everywhere she goes, one of which is a small white (now gray) kitty cat that is an inch tall so it is always fun when she can't find it before bed at night. 3. She loves to read stories with me at night and gets upset if I don't read her one. 4. She plays kitty cat with Katie and meows around the house a lot. 5. She gets excited everyday to pick up Katie at ..read more

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2008 SpooKy FuN!! Christian, Isabelle and Catherine have really been getting into Halloween!! They have been decorating our house, watching Halloween videos and every night before bed they like to turn on their Halloween music and get down. Also... Isabelle is our Decorating Girl. Anytime we have a cause to celebrate she heads straight for our decorating boxes. She loves it. This week she also set up a nice picnic for us outside. She loves to set things up and I am glad she did because it was fun and I am usually too busy to think of something so cute and so simple a ..read more

  i think i remember that Christian was not that excited about this Santa shot. He might have been mumbling please NO Mom under his breathe here I think he would have been even more mortified if EVERYONE else on the train wasn't singing Jolly old st Nicholas and asking Santa for hugs!!  He also gave me the "look" (which I guesss is something Mom's get used to when there kids start to go tween). It reminded me of the  look he gives when I tell him it's time to go to primary in a cheerful voice on Sundays. He totally wants to be in young men's now. He ..read more

Add picture of Gramma and Grandpa and tell one story here ..read more