Window Over The Sink

I've had a busy week and I used this on another blog a few weeks ago; if you've already read it, sorry! It's about writing, and about me, and about the road both the writing and I have taken. It's parade day today. I hope you enjoy it and that Circus Week has been a resounding success! I started out writing sweet romance. Of course, I did. I was nine years old, typing a princess story on my aunt's portable Royal typewriter at a table on my grandparents' enclosed front porch

I wish we'd done better. I remember watching the 1976 national fireworks in our house on Rosewood drive. They were amazing. The whole bicentennial season had been amazing. I would tell our kids to remember this, because they wouldn't see its like again. They were six, four, and two--I'm fairly certain they don't remember much of it anyway. But I think I was right. They won't see its like again. Although I'm political enough to have absolute opinions on how we didn't do better

Neither of us knew absolute. But there are many kinds of relative, too, and they can be like comparing a wicked uncle with a grumpy older sister. Just not the same.

I've been having a time writing. I just can't think of stuff. I can't think of how to end things I've begun, how to fill the middles, how to end things when I can't find a way to wrap it around the beginning. Some of it's due to age (isn't everything?), some of it's because my mind's been on this week's new release, some of it's because I'm going around either saying or thinking the same panic-stricken words I've been saying for years now. Is it time to quit? I don't know. Ma

This morning I have been thinking about Nine Eleven. About J6. About Ruby Bridges. About Black Lives Matter. About the KKK. About ICE. About war. About 60 Minutes. About the White House and its East Wing, the reflecting pool, a 250-dollar-bill, the Kennedy Center. About insider trading. About how many times I've been called names and told to go do impossible things to myself because I have both opinions--gasp!--and an intense dislike for the present presidential administratio

This is my friend Joe Scheidler's new book. Joe and his wife Lee are naturalists who know and care more about the environment than anyone I know. He's also an extremely talented writer. Joe can be found on Substack or at Black Dog Writers meetings where we have a really good time and listen to each other's work. When So Much Seems Right This book is a series of essays on the state of our natural world and the human impact that shape our future. "Joe writes from the heart, wit

Not a favorite word. It used to be, back when I was changing from staying behind when my brothers got on the bus to joining them when I went into first grade. They always let me get on the bus first, then studiously ignored me the rest of the day unless I got into trouble. It was still fun when I went from elementary school to junior high, when we seniors went solemnly up the side aisles of the gym to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance on our way into the future. To this da

Happy Mother's Day 2026. Thanks for reading the Window, even when it's a rerun. - Liz This is from 1991, the early years of the Window Over the Sink. It was the first Mother's Day column I ever wrote. It is still my favorite. This picture is of the mothers, daughters, and granddaughters in my family. I have no words to say how much I love them all, how much I miss my mom and Duane's mom (also mine), and how grateful I am for the ties that link us even when we're apart. "She l

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." - Rudyard Kipling Let's talk about words--want to? Doing what I do, words are important to me and always have been. I used to love that I could spell well because it made writing easier and got me at least one easy A in school. Along with the rest of my memory, remembering how to spell has kind of gone to the wayside, but I can often spot errors other people make. I can't edit my own work, but I can sooo easily p

I'm in Marion at Bookworm Orchard Bookstore & Gifts. I'm selling and signing books and so are a bunch of other people. I hope you'll come over and check out both the event and the venue. There will be 28 of us signing! Angela Herrington, April Decton, Ava Cuvay, Bess Sturgis, Bob Freeman, Chris McWhirt, Christine Lawrence, Connor Freeman, Elizabeth Woodrow, Erin Hayden, Jana Strickler, Jessica Miller, Johnson Brewer, Kathy Gerstorff, Laura Petrucce, Leland Gamson, Liz Flahert

I have to admit it--I have nothing today. But the fairgrounds has this. " Come out and see the Prehistoric Indian artifacts show at the fairgrounds sponsored by the Indiana Archaelogical Society. We are here representing the Miami County Museum with some of our artifacts and goodies. The show is open until 3pm. The concessions are open and they have some breakfast too! Or this sounds like fun -- If you're out and about tonight, stop in for Open Mic at Gallery 15 -- And then

The Interurban Round my Indiana homestead wave the cornfields,In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool.Oftentimes my thoughts revert to scenes of childhood ... Oh, the moonlight’s fair tonight along the Wabash; from the fields there comes the breath of new-mown hay,through the sycamores the candlelights are gleaming, on the banks of the Wabash, far away. - Paul Dresser Indiana is not always a comfortable place to live. Our weather's iffy, the politics are ... what th

I'm sorry I never saw the Beatles or the Eagles perform live.

Virginia Balsbaugh was the librarian at North Miami when I was a kid.

... 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

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

Yesterday, I washed the towels, went to a doctor's appointment, stopped and bought a gallon of milk, dried, folded, and put away the towels, changed the sheets, took the ornaments off the Christmas tree, thought about taking the recycling to the school, fed the cats twice, fixed supper, and ran the dishwasher. If I add all of those things up, not including the hour and a half or so I spent going to the doctor and buying the milk, I probably have another two hours of actual do

Welcome to 2026 at the Window Over the Sink. I laughed at myself when I sat down to write this because here I am, the first Saturday I've had a blog to write in ... well ... weeks, and I don't have anything to write about. No complaints. No jubilation. No deep thoughts on growing old or trees or round bales. While I can't say 2025 was a great year, I will say it went fast. I would say I'm grateful for that, but I'd really like to slow time down, so I won't. I hope you had a g

by Liz Flaherty This is my day for Window Holidays, but I didn't get it done. Just as I missed a few people on the cards list and ran out of cards. Just as I forgot things I meant to get for ones on my presents list. But today, and the season, isn't about perfection, is it? While I believe Jesus was and is perfect, the rest of us aren't quite the same. I don't think we're meant to be, either--not that anyone asked me. So in addition to what is in the graphic below, I wish you

by Liz Flaherty This is from the first year of the Window Holidays Project. In a way, it was the easiest year, because friends were eager to come, more people liked to write and read blogs, and it was all positive. In 2022, we needed positive, didn't we? We still do. But even then, there were times when it didn't work out and a friend or I filled in the blank space. Even though I've changed it a little, I'm covering over the space today. Thank you for stopping in. I so love h