by: Carol McClain @CAROL_MCCLAIN   My friend Linda Sprague found a few old poems of mine published in Foothills Ink and sent them to me. I’m going to take a break from my usual musings and share some never before shared work. I dedicate this post to Linda Sauther, Ellen Mainville, Flossy Powell, and Zoe Steenberge. …[ read more ]

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 ]