Queen Anne’s Lace Black-eyed Susans are one of my favorite flowers. To me, they look like bright, happy faces. Seeing them never fails to lift my spirits. I also love them because, technically speaking, they are weeds, albeit weeds that have found favor with dedicated gardeners. You see them growing with wild abandon in late-summer […]

Same-Sex Marriage Hearing in Augusta Today I counted at least nine people from our congregation at the Augusta Civic Center, where the public hearing on LD 1020, the Marriage Bill, was being conducted. Proponents of same-sex marriage were asked to wear red to show their support of the bill. While representation seemed robust on both

Busy Church! Two Services Starting on April 5 NOTE: We still have two services, but the time for the second service has been changed from what this photo depicts. The first service is still at 9:15. Religious education for children occurs during the first service. The second service is now at 11:00. Hospitality is offered

The First Bluebirds When I was little I heard about bluebirds. My elders spoke of the birds’ beauty with the same reverence they reserved for their descriptions of the elm-lined streets of yore. But bluebirds were rare, with widespread use of DDT damaging their eggs and threatening their survival. Learning of both their rare beauty

Springing Forward Perhaps you didn’t realize it, but March 12 was Crane Watch Day – the day Nebraska celebrates the arrival of the Sandhill cranes along the Platte River. According to the Nebraska Games and Parks Commission: Cranes are among the oldest living birds on the planet. Fossil records place Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska more

Ice Fishing Just over the bridge to Topsham, you can look to the far side of the Androscoggin River and see quite a collection of ice fishing shacks. I have never gone ice fishing but I suspect there must be something magical about it to inspire such a community to gather. And while I can

A Prayer for Difficult Times In the quiet, let us gather our hearts, many hearts beating, many people dreaming, many souls yearning for peace, for freedom from worry, for assurance of a brighter tomorrow. We gather in difficult times. Swelling numbers of people unemployed, hungry, afraid. Swelling numbers of people living under the shadow of

A couple of days ago, I was out and about, enjoying the fall foliage. In the rain. With a hurricane threatening the surge up the Maine coast, the first hurricane warning Maine has had in something like 17 years. (The much touted Hurricane Kyle headed out to sea before it reached us — the hurricane