Lay of the Land
The Gift of Touch
Being still, listening, resting in the humble feeling of not knowing, and becoming, truly, a grandchild—curious, longing for stories. Continue reading
Lay of the Land
Lay of the Land
In the Ghost Wood
THE DAY IS COLD and bright as I walk up the quiet road through small wet fields edged with hawthorn and gorse bushes. The sky is ice blue; behind me, the Continue reading
Lay of the Land
The Woman Who Owned the Sea
I AM STANDING on Yolanda Beach. The edge of the world. One edge, anyway. East of the Philippines, where the island of Samar meets the Pacific. Samar, a sound like the Continue reading
Lay of the Land
Strange Bedfellows
Growing up, I never thought about the daily schedule of wild turkeys. They seemed, in my imagination, to be mythical creatures who lived mostly in paintings of rural 1800s England. Continue reading
Lay of the Land
Hope and Mangroves
THE REDANG AIR is electric during the monsoon season. Breezes rustle through palm trees and the air swirls into a fog before bursting through the sky with a welcome breath of Continue reading