Window Over The Sink

I wrote the following column in 1994. I last used it in April of 2022, when my sister Nancy passed away. I use it again now because this week we lost my brother Joe, the one I talk about in the essay's first paragraph. He is the last of my sisters and brothers and the ache of loss is deep and unrelenting. However, the memories are just as deep and offer many of the Heartening Times I wrote about recently. It is also dedicated, with never ending love, to the memories of Nancy

by Sheila Hansberger, Artist & Author Welcome Sheila Hansberger to the Window today. I'm sure you'll find her interview as interesting as I did! - Liz 1.   What is your favorite thing about yourself? And your least favorite.  I’m proud to say I’m not a quitter. I may struggle to get a project done, but I refuse to stop until I see results. Sadly, that’s also my least favorite trait, because in the past, I have pushed so hard to finish, I risked endangering my health. And recu

by Sherri Easley I recently learned there is an actual word for something I’ve been doing my entire life. It’s called pebbling.  Apparently, penguins will offer small stones to one another as a sign of affection. It’s their way of saying I choose you, I like you, you matter, and possibly, let’s build a life together and raise little penguin babies who waddle dramatically into the sunset. And when I read about this, I had one immediate thought: Oh, no. I’m a penguin. Not the c

Like a few others I’ve talked to about this, I lie awake for a while before I get up. Not because I’m still tired or because I don’t have things I want to do with my day or even because I don’t have to go to the bathroom quite yet. No, I stay there because a sense of dread accompanies my waking. The dread is neither predictable or always definable. Often, admittedly, it has to do with politics and the state of our country. Sometimes it is about people I’ve dreamed about or fr

by Jana Richards I’ve populated the three books of the Twice in a Lifetime series with a bevy of secondary characters. But even though they’re labeled as secondary, I like to believe they are interesting, fully formed individuals who have important contributions to make to the stories being told. Take, for instance, Ellen Arnason. She’s the mother of Gabriel Daniels, the series’ main character. Ellen is vibrant, creative and a little eccentric. She’s also bipolar, and though

I'd been in a bit of writer quicksand. Several books that are works in progress got stuck in the messy middle. I needed a palette cleanser. What to do?

... the very three a.m. of the calendar. ~Joseph Wood Krutch I have always said, although no one ever asked me, that if God made mistakes, February was right at the top of the list. Surely it wasn't intended to be the way it is, was it? Twenty-eight (or sometimes 29) days last at least as long as January and March combined, and we all know how long those go on, don't we? However ... On February 1st, Hattie Caraway, the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, was born. She gai

My long-gone, full-service Nana had given me all the tools I needed. I re-packed the letters, started to write, and thanks to Nana, I never stopped.

This is from three years ago this week, with the usual P.S. at the end. It still speaks to (and about) me. I hope it does to you, too. - Liz Several years ago, in Florida, my sister-in-law Lynn and I were walking into Target when I tripped over a curb and went down like a tree. While I am far too fond of attention, I hate how much of it I attract when I fall down. Especially when I can't exactly get right up. Even more especially when my sister-in-law is both concerned and la