EASTER AND THE LILY CRUCIFIX They are everywhere. In the supermarket. In big box stores. In churches and the most modest flower shop. I can usually smell them before I…

THE ROCK-SOLID TRUTH OF HOLY WEEK Since their discovery by a mining prospector in the early 1900s, visitors to Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, have been fascinated by what…

GOLDFINCH FEATHERS AND EASTER JOY I read in the news that a bird watcher named Peter Kaestner has recently achieved the nearly impossible task of having identified 10,000 of the…

SNAKES ON A POLE Southeast of the ancient Greek city of Corinth is a large archeological site at Epidaurus: The great Temple of Asclepius, the god of healing. As early…

LEEKS, DAFFODILS, AND THE CROSS This Friday, March 1, has particular significance if you are Welsh - March 1 is St. David’s Day; and St. David, who died sometime between…

‘What Shall I DO For Lent’ Or ‘Who Shall I BE For Lent? Easter comes very early this year. It is the last Sunday of March. We’ll be waving palm…

Love as a Way of Being – Thoughts on Valentine’s Day Back in 1847, Boston pharmacist Oliver Chase invented a machine that made apothecary lozenges. He sold these lozenges for…

SEEING THE LIGHT WITH UNVEILED FACES Lenticular printing. It's also called a "flicker picture" or a "wiggle picture." I saw it recently on a cookie box in the grocery store.…

OF GROUNDHOGS AND SAINTS This Friday an annual ritual will unfold in northwest Pennsylvania. Crowds will assemble in the Punxsutawney to consult a large rodent who will determine if we…

WHAT'S IN A NAME In mid-November, Jan and I filled our birdfeeders and carefully positioned them outside the double-window near our kitchen table. We enjoy watching chickadees, juncos, woodpeckers and…