Tuesday, January 13, 2026 The Commonplace Book: Sourdough Edition

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It’s a windy, gray day today. My tea has cooled and I’m trying to decide whether or not I want to get up and put it in the microwave. There’s a loaf of sourdough bread baking in the oven. I have high hopes it will turn out better than the last one. The clock that my mother embroidered says that it’s 4:00. I grew up looking at that clock and probably never really appreciated the artistry of it.

That’s all for the musings o’ day. It’s time to share some thoughts and quotes from my commonplace book.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few,
and let those few be well tried before
you give them your confidence.
George Washington

Good advice from George. Perhaps he got burned once giving someone his confidence and was betrayed. Oh wait…

Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell
in such a way that they look forward to the trip.
Winston Churchill

Ha ha! I suppose a statesman needs to have that kind of tact at the ready. I’m not sure that WC was known for his tact, though, as much as for his razor sharp wit. I would not have wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

Don’t ever take a fence down
until you know why it was put up.
Robert Frost

There’s a lot more to that saying than meets the eye. Think about it the next time you find yourself thinking about removing a boundary that is inconveniencing you. Perhaps the removal of it will bring consequences that are worse than inconvenience.

Live slowly enough
to be able to think deeply
about God.
J.I. Packer

Live s-l-o-w-l-y and think DEEPLY about God. You’re going to need to be reading your Bible to get on with that.

And now you can also think deeply about this beautifully embroidered clock.

When the sourdough bread gets crusty, this post will get dusty. And deleted.

Thursday, January 8, 2026 Poem for David B

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My brother achieved 70 years recently, so naturally a poem had to be written in honor of this grand event.

That’s him on the left and me on the right
when we were young and splashy

Seventy years hath David B.
“I don’t feel very old,” said he.
“Speak for yourself,” opined one knee,
While his back groaned, saying “Golly gee!”

David objected, “I feel quite spry.”
His neck interjected, “That’s a lie!”
His bones just creaked with a little sigh,
And his brain took a break, saying “no reply.”

But David persisted, “I’m fit as a fiddle!”
His ears said, “What? Did he said ‘riddle?’”
“No rich food,” said his tummy in the middle,
(“But chocolate’s okay, if it’s just a little.”)

“I guess I’m getting on in years,”
Old David said, now switching gears.
“But full speed ahead! No time for tears.”
And the crowd around him gave three cheers.

So three cheers for David B!
(In three years, that will be me!)

Did you know that this post is getting on in years? Time to delete!

Wednesday, January 7, 2026 The Workshop: Painting People Vs. Animals

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Aside from minor differences, one animal is pretty much like another of its kind. If you paint one robin, you’ve painted them all. There’s not a lot that distinguishes them from each other, although I’ll grant that treasured pets might have a spark of uniqueness that would give their owners an ability to pick theirs out among others with the same features if they were looking at photos. Maybe. This is why I like painting animals.

Humans have faces that are each completely unique (yes even twins – and I should know!). Each person has been specially crafted by their Maker and they bear His stamp. Unlike beavers or golden retrievers or chickadees, there is no “one-description-fits-all” for human beings. We have, each of us, broken the mold, so to speak. What you recognize in the people you know and love is almost intangible, but it is unmistakable. It is much harder to capture that essence in a painting.

My dear friend Martha sent me a painting for my birthday a couple months ago. Tears came to my eyes when I opened the envelope and took it out. It’s our little granddaughter – it’s HER! (Martha and I share a grandchild, having had the good providence of my son marrying her daughter.) I was just blown away by this beautiful, skillful and extravagant gift.

Of course, Martha is not responsible for the ugly black blot on the bottom. There’s a name underneath it and you don’t get to know it. Not on this blog, anyway.

Thank you again and again, Martha!

Will I delete this? Probably? Maybe? It’s a mystery and you don’t get to know it.

Tuesday, January 6, 2026 Commonplace Book: Don’t Be Boring

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Today is Epiphany, the official end to the Christmas season. Have you taken your Christmas decorations down? Ours are scheduled to go back into hiding today. When I was a child, I was so sad about Christmas being over that I made a chain of 365 paper rings to count down until the next Christmas. What an astonishing display of industry! By mid-summer I was sick of it and threw it away.

Here are a few words from my Commonplace book to enrich your day. You’re welcome.

Every day, we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and if possible, speak a few sensible words.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you haven’t gotten started on that today yet, get going!

We are masters of the unsaid words,
but slaves of those we let slip out.
Winston Churchill

I go into “babble mode” sometimes when there’s too much silence in a conversation. Words slip out and there are regrets.

Discipline is choosing between what you want now,
and what you want most.
Abraham Lincoln

Words to encourage you when it’s 20 degrees out and you’d rather stay home than go swim laps. Oh, I guess that’s just me.

It’s a sin to be boring.
Elisabeth Elliot

The trouble is, when we’re being boring, we don’t always KNOW we’re being boring. See above about “babble mode.” But point taken, Elisabeth. I suspect that if you do what Wolfgang said above, you will never be boring.

Let’s pretend that’s an exquisite picture and you can cross that off Wolfgang’s list. And just to show you how much I care about you, I’ll end this with a “good” poem. Now all you have to do is hear a little song and say a few sensible words. You’re on your own for that.

I’ve often repeated
This might be deleted.
You should believe me
I wouldn’t deceive thee.

Monday, January 5, 2026 I Firmly Resolve…

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We’ve taken that big leap into a new calendar year, hopping onto fresh pages that beckon us into the unknown, the “undiscovered country,” as good old Shakespeare said. (Full disclosure: I learned that phrase from the Star Trek movie “Undiscovered Country”, but it still counts as a Shakespeare quote.)

Of course every day is a day that stretches before us as a blank page, full of stories that only the Lord knows ahead of time. As Robert Frost said, “The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” But in this new morning of the year 2026, we can still look ahead with hope and make plans for the afternoon. Back in the day, we used to call these plans “New Year’s Resolutions,” but the term has fallen out of favor. Everybody now knows that your firm resolve to exercise daily only lasts a week or two, after which the list of resolutions quietly disappears until the next January 1 comes around.

In our household, we make a list of goals for the coming year, some of them a mere continuance of good habits already established, some of them “one and done” projects, and some of them s-t-r-e-t-c-h goals, meant to move us further along than we’ve been before. I spent the last couple of days working on mine, a process I thoroughly enjoy. I ended up with 91 goals divided among 12 categories. (Full disclosure #2: I am disturbed by the uneven number 91 and feel the specter of Adrian Monk peering over my shoulder begging me to even it up.)

The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected…but in this case, I rather suspect that some of these 91 goals will be going by the wayside, joining a vast number of unmet goals from my past. It matters not. I submit them to God and am confident that He who began a good work in me “will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” The only thing I want to firmly resolve this year is to be like the psalmist David who told the Lord: My soul follows close behind You.” If my soul follows Him so closely that I’m stepping on the train of His robe, that’ll do just fine, 91 goals notwithstanding.

(Full disclosure #3: great was my disappointment after making the above when I realized that I hadn’t remembered the quote correctly before writing it in permanent ink. The specter of Adrian Monk peers over my shoulder about that as well.)

The delete button follows closely behind this post. I think it will catch up to it in the morning.

Monday, December 22, 2025 I’ve Got A Bad Case of Poetry

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I’ve been hearing from friends over the last week that their poetry book has arrived in the mail – many sent me photos to let me know what it looked like.

This is such a complete thrill for me! It started in 2024 when my daughter sent me the information for submitting poems for this book project. I picked out 15 poems and sent them off, hoping, but not really expecting to get any of them accepted. When I found out that they took 10 of them for the book, I literally shouted and danced around the room for joy.

Some of you reading this were participants in the Kickstarter Campaign – I am so very thankful for your contributions. This whole experience has been amazing and encouraging for me as a writer.

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 136:1

Shout out to Bandersnatch Press for putting this book together and bringing it to completion, and to Emily Person, who did such a fabulous job with the illustrations. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the book, and to reading the poems contributed by the other authors.

I’ve got a bad case of needing to delete this in the morning…

Friday, December 19, 2025 They Keep Watch

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Two black cats perch atop the lintel that leads into the dining room. One sits upright with a calm and contemplative air. The other is bent over, looking down, paws out, tail up, ready to grab whate’er may pass by. Together, they keep watch.

Christmas is coming!

Those cats are going to catch this post and delete it in the morning.

Wednesday, December 17, 2025 The Workshop: A Not So Tiny Book

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I received a gift from a dear friend for my birthday, a lovely blank book with thick homemade paper, a book that says “Enter in and create!”

Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.

Note the fingerprint stain toward the bottom, my first act of creation being to get chocolate on it.

The very wordy book title – you’d expect no less from me if you’ve read my blog at all. “The Book of Small Musings, Random Ideas, Poetic Thoughts, Ink Drawings, and Humble Paintings.” A mouthful for sure. I should be careful about overpromising and underdelivering (probably too late for that).

I also got a new palette of paints for my birthday, Complexions. I tried them out on the first page of this book.

BEHOLD! A new palette of paints,
hues of complexions,
Skin tones of black, brown, red, pink, peach and yellow.
We look like a bouquet of earth colors
When we’re all together.

That’s all folks!

I’ll probably get a random idea or poetic thought about deleting this in the morning.

Tuesday, December 16, 2025 Commonplace Book: The Eyes of Your Heart

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Christmas music plays quietly in the background as I write this. The day is still dark, the room lit up by the Christmas tree. I just read the entire book of Ephesians in one sitting and am filled with wonder at the kindness of God in making me one of His own, one of His beloved. So let’s start off with something from that book, a prayer that I would pray for you if I knew you, especially if I knew that you were still wandering in darkness.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened, that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power toward us who believe.
Ephesians 1:18-19

I remember reading through Ephesians as a new Christian and being absolutely transported by the beauty, eloquence and poetry of Paul’s prose. And the Holy Spirit gave them wings in my heart.

I promise you that joy
runs deeper than despair.
Corrie Ten Boom

Repeat those words often when you need them.

If you want to know where your heart is,
look to where your mind goes when it wanders.
Walt Whitman

Very revealing!

The best way to shorten winter is to prolong Christmas.
GK Chesterton

And now, a quote from the poet Luci Shaw, who died on December 1 of this year.

Planting seeds
inevitably
changes my feelings
about rain.
Luci Shaw

So much packed into so few words – that’s fine wordsmithy right there.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning…or will I?