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
Beefing Up! An Ascension Day Project
Today I learned that 1/4 of a steer equals a lot of meat! A few weeks ago, we heard a neighboring farmer was selling his grass-fed steers to anyone who wanted one. (Like everywhere else, our local farmers are hurting from the supply chain disruptions.) All you had to do was arrange for transporting and butchering. So some of my family decided to go together and purchase a whole steer and then divide the meat. My sister made the arrangements with a butcher shop and the steer was scheduled … [Read more...] about Beefing Up! An Ascension Day Project
A Home for Birds, Bats, and Skunks?
"As soon as the birds flew out, the phone started working again," said Mom this morning. "No one will believe me if I tell them our phone call got cut off because of the birds."' "Everyone will think we're cuckoo if we say our phone and internet isn't working because the birds are building a nest again," I agreed. This, however, is absolutely the truth. The phone box that houses the wires that lead to our house and tether us to the outside world via phone and internet has become the … [Read more...] about A Home for Birds, Bats, and Skunks?