I’d known – and loved – the closing line of Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day for years. A family in our neighborhood in St. Paul had made a large mosaic featuring it and hung it beside their front door. Whether walking the dog or running with a friend, I’d pass by their home and...

While we’re on the theme of noticing: Jim Moore’s poem “Twenty Questions” is a wonderful reminder to pay attention to the ordinary, as in the ordinary we often behold the extraordinary. Or, to put more of a point on it, I sometimes suspect that if you can’t find the extraordinary in...

With 53% of consumers pounding the pavements, freeways, and malls looking for a good – no, make that great – Black Friday sale, it’s going to be a busy, busy, busy day. Who knows, I may end up running out to a store yet today as well, but in the meantime this brief but beautiful...