July - 2018

PRAISE: a blog

All that's amazing and a little science, too.

Hiking the Aggregate of Civilization

True, woodland paths are lovely this time of year, with their overarching greenery, their jutting rocks and their rooted, earthen steps,...

The Dust at the Center of the Rain

All week it has been raining. I wake early each morning and sit by the window to listen. The science of rain sounds like poetry: droplets...

The Incandescent Purpose of Purple

Grace Recently Dave, an older friend of mine, asked me in a concerned undertone why a mutual friend – a much younger woman – colored her...

A Brief on the Meaning of Life

Most writers are familiar with the term “elevator pitch.” Serendipitously trapped in the shiny little box with your quarry (whether...

In Praise of the Spoon

We were all rather proper in my home, even though we were poor – especially before my mother went back to work when I (the youngest of...

Dappled Light Invites the Soul to Loaf

When I sit on the shorn grass, feeling its silk brush my toes and its scent tickle my nostrils; or when I walk a path in the woods where...

Four Notes of Praise

Photo by Carol Fassler. I am stopped this morning by the sound of a bird song very loud, very close. Four notes, expressed, then a...

In Praise of the Carpenter Ant

It is good to praise something you hate. Lately, my friend’s kitchen has been invaded by carpenter ants, and they make me shudder. It’s...

Why write a blog called PRAISE?

A healthy and happy life is based on gratitude. Check the science. Gratitude for the simple, everyday awesome things in life contributes to physical health as well as mental health. Depression causes physical pain as much as pain causes depression. Save your own heart! Steep your life in the language of praise.