Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, Christmas 2005
Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, Christmas 2005
I’ve been listening to Christmas music and thinking about you these days. Remembering what it was like to sing together as a family during the Christmas season, with you at the piano leading us. We stood behind you, looking over your shoulder or singing from memory Read the rest of this entry »
This story is from a book I wrote in the 1990s. It’s my most vivid childhood memory of Christmas.
I couldn’t forget the look on my mother’s face when I opened my Christmas present from my grandfather. I was about 12 years old. My mother’s father lived in California; we now lived in Georgia. Gifts and letters had replaced lively visits to his apartment. Read the rest of this entry »
wren song greets the day
bare bone trees and steel-gray sky
drop into background
~ ~ ~ King’s College Choir, Cambridge, U.K.
It’s Christmas Eve, 1998. I’m sitting in a chair in our living room, facing our stereo speakers. Tears stream down my face. I’m listening to the annual live broadcast Read the rest of this entry »
Isn’t it time to get on with it? Let the past be the past? I understand these questions. I know the feeling. If I open up that can of worms it will devour me! And cause anguish to other people.
Henri Nouwen opens the first section of his small book, The Living Reminder, with this story about Elie Wiesel. Read the rest of this entry »
This is the last piece Diane wrote for her friends about ALS. I’ll respond next Friday. It’s a longer piece, definitely tough reading. Partly because it’s about her; mostly because it’s about us. Read the rest of this entry »
Even though I’m the oldest of four daughters, destined to be Number One whether I like it or not, I have to confess: I like being Number One! I like being the Boss! At least most of the time.
My husband is the Number Two child in his family. Read the rest of this entry »
There’s an old, old story in the Bible–the story of deeply rooted hostility between men and women. According to Genesis 3, the wall of division between men and women goes far deeper, and begins ages earlier, than any other wall of division in the human race. It’s deeper and wider than Jew and Gentile; deeper and wider than slave and free.
Esther 1 reminds us: The power struggle between men and women has ancient roots Read the rest of this entry »
It’s summer, 2012.
I’m speaking in public
about things I’ve never described
to a live audience. Read the rest of this entry »
holly berries ooze
unclaimed rotting red orange
juice beneath my boots
* * *
Where have all the robins gone?
Does anybody know?
Please tell them their annual fall feast hangs ready
on twigs with prickly leaves,
though not for long.
Ripe berries succumb daily
to squirrels and gravity.
Please tell them
I miss their sweet greedy scolding voices
outside my window.
I miss watching them gorge with gusto on ripe red berries,
as they get drunk on red orange juice,
and drop ejected pits
everywhere
beneath my boots.
* * *
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 8 December 2014
Photo credit: DAFraser, December 2014
Telling the Truth 