The Yarny Yarrow: Vintage Delight in the Garden of Simplicity
What was it about that lanky weed? I had seen it last weekend at the garden shop and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I know it spreads, sowing its seed wild, and stretches its roots wide. But I couldn’t be put off. Maybe it’s the way the tiny florets circled...
West Palm Runaway {Gift from the Sea 2: Channelled Whelk}
In the year that I turned two, I bid farewell to both of my grandmothers. Elsie flew away to Heaven. And Mamie bought a one-way bus ticket to West Palm Beach. If you would have asked me as a toddler what made her pack her bags for the Sunshine State, I would have said...
Surprised by Summer
I started last summer with a list. Cloud gazing. Firefly catching. Bird watching. Running through sprinklers. I was all set to lead my kids on a tour of the season’s simple joys. Strawberry picking. Bare feet on grass. A boat ride on the lake with friends. I had plans...
Stars Dancing in the Water {Gift from the Sea 1: The Beach}
We drifted over silvery waters from the big island to the tiny one. I looked out the panoramic window onto open sea and atmosphere. It was like scales had fallen from my eyes to take in a view so gloriously clear. For four months, in the city where I was studying...
Back to Open Waters {Gift from the Sea Intro}
My husband has sailed past my horizon line out on a fishing boat beyond reach of cell phone towers. I grab the kids’ swimsuits from the drying rack on the balcony and pack our lunch. Out over the water, a plane sputters by dragging an airborne billboard behind it, an...
The Soldier and the Seed
Usually, I take to the garden around Mother’s Day. I put a seedling in soil, see my reflection in the silver of the garden spade, and think on where I am in the work of cultivating my children. My husband and I plant and water and know all the while that it’s God who...
Laundry Dunes, Everyday Vacations…and a Summer Book Club!!!
In my ideal closet, everything has a place: short sleeves on one rod, long sleeves on another, dresses and skirts on another. Belts and strings are tied up at the waist, never dangling. Sleeves are smoothed out. Hangers are equidistant. Each rod is an array of color...
Road Tripping Mama
My husband may as well have been driving us through the construction lane, dodging orange barrels and steamrollers, quaking the tires over unfinished asphalt, and slamming the brakes every 30 seconds, because that’s what my brain felt like it was doing with the...
The Wardrobe Picked Out for You {Free Baby Shower Printables!}
Her dress stretched taut over her belly like fabric tightened across a needlepoint hoop. It was her third hiding in there, a girl after two boys. But no matter how many times I had seen it happen (or felt it happen), it could never get old, the chance to witness this...
I’m Darcy Wiley, co-writer of The Yes Effect: Accepting God’s Invitation to Transform the World Around You. I’m an explorer at heart… Read more