February 9, 2023

For the Birds A wild Maine blueberry bush has grown alongside my back porch. It is easily 5 feet high and looks like a bush whose berries would be large and fat, not small and juicy. Often people don’t believe me when I tell them it’s a Maine blueberry bush because it...

January 26, 2023

Image: Barbara Ryther Season of Light For a photographer, every season – every month, every moment – is a season of light. One of the earliest lessons I got with my first SLR camera was “Don’t starve your film of light!” I pictured the nicely ordered clumps of...

January 5, 2023

Image: Melanie Kyer A Dialog with Epiphany Arise, shine, for your light has come!           But I’m tired and really need to sleep some more. The shepherds are following the light to the Christ Child.           But I’ve really got to watch these sheep, I’ll come along...

December 22, 2022

Image: Barbara Ryther Hope, Faith, Joy, Peace Four small candles The first flame is hopeIt flickers outBut is quickly relit Faith comes to life uncertainly on its tiny wickYet the darkness retreats Joy shares its glowAnd unexpected strengthWith the other two Peace...

December 15th, 2022

Image: Barbara Ryther A Familiar Story Every year we start the story again. We know this one! The characters are familiar, the plot twists aren’t a surprise anymore. A prophecy! A miraculous pregnancy! A star! Humble shepherds, wise visitors, evil ruler! Flee! We even...

November 24, 2022

The “Pie Ladies” of St. George’s Church Feasting on homemade pies on Monday afternoons was a church-sponsored tradition for residents of the former Harbor Home, a small state-run facility in York Harbor, Maine. Here, in a quiet two-story brick...