About Me

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I am a mother, a teacher, and a nature lover. I grew up on a mountain we called Owls' Knob in the Ozarks of Arkansas. The first seven years of my life were spent living in a log cabin, far from a store or streetlight, without electricity or running water and after twenty years of travel, I returned to the abondoned homestead. Now I live on a hill by a small lake and work at a public garden. These are stories about nature written from a women deeply influenced by place.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Crackling Lullaby

At Owls' Knob, fire is our only source of heat.  All summer the stove sits cold and dusty. When winter sets in, the flame flares, the iron glows, and a friendship is rekindled. It is a hungry and needy friend. The cutting, chopping, hauling, and stoking is labor intensive. If the blaze dies you must nurse it back to life. Yet, the softest touch can melt your skin and burn your flesh. It has a temper too; the inferno can take your house, your family, and your life, turning it all to ash. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Its warmth heals me. Its crackle is my lullaby.

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