by: Carol McClain @CAROL_MCCLAIN There’s a quirk I have. I must be fast. As a child, when I took a test, I timed it so I wasn’t the  first finished, and I wasn’t last, but I had to hand in my paper quickly. My handwriting is a scrawl because I have to get my thoughts down. …[ read more ]

by: Carol McClain @CAROL_MCCLAIN Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt. 6:34) We’re living in a scary time. COVID-19 rears its head, and we don’t know if we’re next in line to succumb to it. The pandemic aside, no one guarantees our …[ read more ]

by: Carol McClain @CAROL_MCCLAIN We, like the insect world of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, have fixed ideas. Whether they help us or not, we learned certain things, believe them and follow them blindly. It makes us not much better than bugs. Here’re some of the crazy things insects do: The FIXED notions of Chapter 4: “The Fixed.” …[ read more ]

by: Carol McClain @CAROL_MCCLAIN Friends and I hike the Smokies looking for Jack-in-the-Pulpits. Little Annie Margaret is the master. Me? Not so much. Finding them is a matter of seeing. Obvious? Not really. You have to look. You have to be present and be willing to see. Are you near a stream–not on it or adjacent …[ read more ]

by: Carol McClain @CAROL_MCCLAIN Let’s face it. With Covid-19, our world has grown small. We’re tempted to despair as family members fall prey to the virus, and friends need to be socially distant. Our lives are, according to Annie Dillard (and I have many a student who will groan as they hear me return to my …[ read more ]