Macrame plant hangers— like lacy doilies— linger in their webbed glory year after year in our home. Growing up, I never gave macrame hangers much thought. They were just part of the fixtures, like lamps or windowsills. Certainly I never considered making a plant hanger. That is, until my friend Becky announced she was having a macrame plant hanger party. "It's easy," she promised. "I can get all the supplies, you come to my house, and you can make one in an evening." So last evening, … [Read more...] about Macrame Party: A Classic Craft
Kentucky Pilgrimage
Last winter my friend Amy and I discovered neither of us had ever been to the Creation Museum or the Ark Encounter in Kentucky and we both wanted to go. A few weeks ago, I asked Amy if she was still interested. "Both museums are open again. And we'll probably never again have a summer that's so empty." "Sure," Amy agreed. I also invited my friend Charity to come along. Like Amy, Charity is a schoolteacher, and she also had never been to either museum. So last week, we made the … [Read more...] about Kentucky Pilgrimage
Warning My Past Self about 2020
If you could go back in time and warn yourself about what's happening in 2020, what would you say? In the past couple of months, there's been this Youtube craze of people warning their past selves about everything that's coming. Since I prefer writing to acting, I decided to write a play-style script about the June 2020 Susan warning the December 2019 Susan. Note: Please ignore the time/space contradiction. You've been putting up with worse things than plot holes lately. Setting: my sofa. … [Read more...] about Warning My Past Self about 2020
Letter from the Yellow Zone
In March I wrote a blogpost in which I mused about what it would be like to live through some sort of natural disaster. Three years— excuse me, three months later, my curiosity has been sated. Lancaster County is now in the Yellow Zone. Pennsylvania is re-opening in stages: red was the total shutdown, yellow is partial, and in green you're to good to go (but not without your face mask, of course.) Most counties in Pennsylvania are green, but Lancaster and several other high-population areas … [Read more...] about Letter from the Yellow Zone
Off the Grid— Canoeing the Clarion River
"The Clarion River flows into the Allegheny River, which flows into the Ohio River, which flows into the Mississippi River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, and that's geography for you!" A young boy was canoeing with his parents not far from where I leaned back in my canoe, peacefully drifting toward the Gulf of Mexico on a warm and sunny afternoon. On the riverbanks, the Cook Forest was bright green with early summer. I was with friends on the Clarion River in the Pennsylvania Wilds, … [Read more...] about Off the Grid— Canoeing the Clarion River