Cheryl Grey Bostrom's Blog, page 12

The Loneliness Epidemic

I almost didn’t read Susan Mettes‘ new book The Loneliness Epidemic: Why So Many of Us Feel Alone—And How Leaders Can Respond. After all, hasn’t loneliness already headlined discussions throughout the pandemic? Don’t we already know that people are lonely? What fresh perspective could this book possibly plant in me?

AND THEN, once I read the book, I almost didn’t review it. As many of you know, if I can’t give a book four or five stars, I quietly set the book aside.

Why was I hesitant to review it? Because Sgt. Joe Friday’s attributed quote, “Just the facts, ma’am,” applies to large sections of this book. Only natural that it would; Author Susan Mettes approaches the topic of loneliness as the superb researcher and behavioral scientist she is. Which means that she’s filled the pages with truckloads of data and summary analyses.

So much data.

I thought it would get in the way. Rattle around in my head without moving me to action. For me to review the book, all that research needed to find its way to my heart. I doubted that would happen.

BUT . . . after all that info percolated in me for a couple of weeks, I realized that Mettes’s research had worked its magic. I found myself returning to her surprising information about loneliness, and it built curiosity in me, evoked empathy in me for the lonely everywhere among us. It showed me new places to find lonely people, and caused me to question blanket assumptions about who is lonely and who isn’t.

Mettes carried me into the world of the lonely, a world which I sometimes inhabit, and gave me sharpened eyesight and a determination to pay attention, to love more deeply and meaningfully. She lit a fire of urgency in me—compelling me to reach out to the lonely in ways that will make a difference, not just to follow long-practiced protocols that don’t actually reduce loneliness.

I do wish the advice offered to leaders in the last section of the book were as well fleshed out as her research. I found that section too slim.

Nonetheless, I bring you this four-star book, trusting that you’ll find it meaningful and motivating, as did I.

*******

Now, for recent photo posts . . . these:

PNW webfoot weather.

(Snow geese on Wiser Lake)

“Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.”

—Psalm 69:15

*******

Wandered down to the creek with visiting family last week, where we applauded coho after they . . . .

Evaded eaters.

Found the sea.

Wandered the ocean.

Fought their way back upriver.

Sniffed out our home creek.

Changed color.

Courted mates

Dug redds.

Spawned.

Rested.

*******

How narwhals fly.

“Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”

—Psalm 36:5

*******

Thanks for stopping by, friends. So glad you’re here.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks

P.S. Looking for a Christmas read? Get a personalized copy of Sugar Birds HERE.

When Dreams Stick

Usually my nighttime dreams are visual, and wisp away within minutes of my awakening. Not this one. Pinky swear, I awoke reciting the last line of this dream.

It was an old speech I memorized in high school for extra credit. Even if you did, too, will you pretend you’ve never seen it before? Consider it in today’s context?

And if you’d like to talk about it, do drop me a note.

It goes like this:

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.

The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—

that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—

that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain;

that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom;

and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

November 16, 1863

*******

On another front, my chat with Forrest Brown went live recently on Stories for Earth, a podcast devoted to narratives offering strength and resilience in fighting the climate crisis. Though Sugar Birds is regularly identified as a nature novel, I don’t consider it “cli-fi” (climate fiction). I wondered how—and if—the book would intersect with works and ideologies of eco-fiction.

Turns out that we found quite a bit to talk about. Listen on any of the following links:

Stories for Earth, with Forrest Brown

Web page: https://storiesforearth.com/2021/11/16/interview-cheryl-grey-bostrom-author-of-sugar-birds/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/46zHSlWiDthmp7L4Xu4Tew?si=e7b4f26ce56f474bApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-cheryl-grey-bostrom-author-of-sugar-birds/id1478061144?i=1000542091621

*******

And, of course, pics for you:

Pennants.

“His banner over me is love.”

—Song of Solomon 2:4

*******

Morning tune.

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

—Isaiah 55:12

*******

Together.

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

—Matthew 18:20

*******

Thanks for dropping by, friends. I always welcome your comments or emails . . . and will reply!

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks.

*******

Stocking Stuffer idea: Sugar Birds!

On the Chest of God

In her essay “Affirmed by God,” author Darcy Wiley told how she found herself sleepless. Bereft. Beset by adversaries and betrayal.

Many of you have told me that you are grappling with equally difficult circumstances. Or relationships. Or both—and you echo her sentiments.

So today, my friends, I offer the comfort she received, which is for you, too. She wrote this:

“I had my ear on the chest of God, his hand patting my back, his lullaby shushing me. I needed his rest. I needed to feel his favor. I needed his loving thoughts about me in the forefront of my mind.” 

“My ear on the chest of God.”

Wow. Can you insert yourself into that image?

I carried that picture with me to my recent getaway at Mt. Hermon, a Christian retreat center in the hills outside of Santa Cruz, California. Wandering trails through redwoods along the creek there, I came upon this plaque, anchored to an old giant.

It, too, is for you. For me. For us.

May you find renewal in the crook of His arm.

*******

Read Darcy’s entire piece (along with several other wonderful essays) about Living in God’s Love in this month’s edition of The Redbud Post.

*******

Also posted over the last couple of weeks, these:

Green eater.

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed . . .”

—1 Corinthians 15:51

*******

A fellow daybreak-watcher in the hills between Big Sur & Carmel. (See her?)

*******

Lightning: 32 years old

Grandson: 5 years old

Moments before he takes the reins for his very first lesson.

Me: arrived in time to see it all.

Thankful:).

*******

A week with my Avie . . . my heart is full.

*******

Goodbye Seattle layover. I’m heading home.

*******

An early pic of my hometown. Recognize it?

(Port Angeles, WA)

*******

Sky jasper.

“For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.”

—Proverbs 8:11

*******

Surface Tension.

“In Him all things hold together.”

—Colossians 1:17

*******

Verbs?

“By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.”

—Psalm 119:105 MSG

*******

“Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be,

The last of life,

for which the first was made:

Our times are in His hand

Who saith “A whole I planned,

Youth shows but half;

trust God: see all, nor be afraid!”

—Robert Browning

*******

Good to be back with you, friends. Thanks for stopping by.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks

P.S. A gift idea: Sugar Birds! Order a personalized copy for someone you love at Village Books.

Book Club Babble

Writing process. Plot formation. Backstory. Themes. Characterization. Those of us who love books and writing can talk endlessly about all the components of story creation.

And every conversation’s unique.

Like this one, for example. If you’re up for yet one more interview, listen in as I talk with Tabitha Lord, founder of the outstanding site Book Club Babble, on The Author’s Cut about the creation of Sugar Birds, nature as setting, and more.

If you’d rather read, you’ll find our similar written exchange in her Book Club Babble interview HERE:

But if you’re DONE with interviews, I get that. Feel free to scroll down and instead let some beauty from earlier this week wash over you.

Meanwhile, in a few days I’m heading to California for a writing retreat and time with family. My laptop will be closed and stowed most of the time, so don’t look for new posts until November 20.

I’ll have more for you then.

*******

What is it about clouds? Pics and posts from earlier this week:

Leaf-stained.

*******

Wizard of Oz?

*******

Because shadows make beams, too.

“See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.”

—Luke 11:35

*******

Thanks for stopping by, friends. Glad you’re here.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks.

*******

P.S. Have you read Sugar Birds yet? Get it HERE.

Book Club Babble with Tabitha Lord

Writing process. Plot formation. Backstory. Themes. Characterization. Those of us who love books and writing can talk endlessly about all the components of story creation.

And every conversation’s unique.

Like this one, for example. If you’re up for yet one more interview, listen in as I talk with Tabitha Lord, founder of the outstanding site Book Club Babble, about the creation of Sugar Birds, nature as setting, and more.

If you’d rather read, you’ll find our similar written exchange HERE:

But if you’re DONE with interviews, I get that. Feel free to scroll down and instead let some beauty from earlier this week wash over you.

Meanwhile, in a few days I’m heading to California for a writing retreat and time with family. My laptop will be closed and stowed most of the time, so don’t look for new posts until November 20.

I’ll have more for you then.

*******

What is it about clouds? Pics and posts from earlier this week:

Leaf-stained.

*******

Wizard of Oz?

*******

Because shadows make beams, too.

“See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.”

—Luke 11:35

*******

Thanks for stopping by, friends. Glad you’re here.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks.

*******

P.S. Have you read Sugar Birds yet? Get it HERE.

Fall Furrows: A Poem about Dark Seasons

Last May I spent a verdant spring morning snapping pics at our local plowing match, then stowed the photos away for the fall edition of God and Nature Magazine, where they recently appeared with this, my latest poem.

As you read, you’ll need to bend your mind a bit. Imagine not only the autumnal equinox’s slant light and winter’s advancing darkness, but also gloom that can descend anytime. You know, those dismal seasons of mind or heart or body.

Then picture an ethereal plow made of that same slant light and drawn by great beasts of God-reigned time. Feel the plow carve a furrow in your heart, a gash where suffering sows pain’s black seeds. Remember how, each time this happens, you long to escape the loss. The hurt.

But how, if you’ll only walk the holy furrow, warmer days return— and you find that, instead of sprouting those grim seeds, winter has composted your pain. Transformed it.

“The darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining … ” —1 John 2:8

*******

Fall Furrows

By Cheryl Grey Bostrom

​Aw, God.
Your equinox, here again—
that sharp plow, come to cleave
the soil of seasons,
to slice September with waning days.

Gee! Haw!
At your voice,
time’s Percherons and mules,
Shires and Clydes,
all traces taut,
heave your slant-light blade,
curling summer (now tired and dry)
into furrows,
seedbeds of December’s dark composting.

Must I winter here? Again?
I feel them still, Lord,
those cuts from other dimmings,
other winters of heart.
Save me, Father.
Fly me south, will you?

Or,
remind me how to
walk the furrows.
Crease me with wisdom
I can follow in the bleak, until
your canted beam returns
to fold the earth to spring.

From the International Plowing Match, Lynden, Washington, Spring 2021. Note how one animal walks the plow’s last furrow in order to keep the team’s course straight.

Award-winning author Cheryl Grey Bostrom is a Pacific Northwest native, naturalist, and avid photographer. A former teacher and columnist, she lives with her husband and two irrepressible Gordon setters in rural Washington State. Her novel  SUGAR BIRDS  was released August 3, 2021. 

God & Nature magazine is a publication of the American Scientific Affiliation, an international network of Christians in science.

*******

And now a few shots from earlier this week:

Tree: In 6 days.

Us: “We will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye . . . “

—1 Corinthians 15:52-53

*******

Tendonitis?

“And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

—Romans 8:23

*******

When you finally get it.

*******

Good morning, sleepyhead.

*******

Thanks for stopping by, friends. So glad you’re here.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks.

*******

A gift idea for you: SUGAR BIRDS!

When Interviews Get Personal

After I said “yes” to an interview with the amazing Sarah Elkins—podcaster, consultant, and author of Your Stories Don’t Define You. How You Tell Them Will, we dug deep . . . about themes in my novel Sugar Birds, on how my childhood shows up there, and on how our chosen responses to trauma—and other forms of adversity—shape our lives.

Have a listen HERE, then leave a comment below or write me HERE, would you? I’d love to hear YOUR story—and learn how your response to difficulty has defined YOU.

*******

AND . . . since I visited family in NJ this week, here are a few shots from opposite coasts, posted over the last few days:

Tree killer.

Sitting on our son & DIL’s deck in NJ on a sunny afternoon when a creature I’d never seen before stopped by: a beauty, right? —& it sucks the life right out of trees and important food crops. Newly arrived in the USA from China in 2014, when, supposedly, eggs on an imported rock went undetected.

Boo.

If you see one, whack it.

*******

When dawn is a choir.

(Church Mountain sunrise, North Cascades)

*******

Happiness with fur.

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

—Psalm 16:11

*******

1949 Packard Clipper.

*******

Good to be with you, friends. So glad you stopped by.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks.

******

Get your personalized/signed copy of Sugar Birds HERE.

Redbud Fruit 4: Not Quite Fine, Reviewed

This is an important book—about individuals, and about our collective population, who truly are Not Quite Fine. Lest you adopt an “us and them” stance in response, please recognize that in her book Not Quite Fine: Mental Health, Faith, and Showing Up for One Another, Carlene Hill Byron is talking not only about the mentally ill, but about you . . . and me.

Author Byron, who has dealt with mental health issues for decades, deserves the platform this book affords. Not only has she lived with her own mental illness, but she’s also thoroughly researched prevailing attitudes and practices surrounding mental health. Her time spent counseling others with cognitive and emotional struggles rounds out her head knowledge with first-hand experience and infuses her views with compassion.

Consequently, she offers a Christian perspective for steps, both large and small, that we can take to love and support those in the throes of pain from brains and emotions that betray us—or those who need time to heal from trauma, grief, and other hurts that families, cultures, and this unstable world throw at us.

I was impressed by her clear read on how our changing culture distorts and hinders appropriate grappling with the suffering surrounding emotional pain and imbalance. With how she reframes some of the pain intrinsic to the human condition as a healthy, necessary response to our broken world, rather than labeling and dismissing it as a product of often stigmatized mental illness. With her trust in God through it all.

Her perspectives will challenge you. Agree or disagree, you’ll come away wiser, more thoughtful, and less likely to swallow the prevailing culture’s party line about mental illness.

I highly recommend this book.

*******

This past week we traveled to Washington’s parched Palouse, where we roamed country we love for a few days. Following are a few pics from our excursion, some posted earlier on SM.

When footing takes flight.

“The king gives stability to the land by justice, but a person who takes bribes ruins it.”

—Proverbs 29:4

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

—Jeremiah 17:7-8

*******

E

Evasive.

“‘Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?’ says the LORD.”

—Jeremiah 23:24

*******

Three Palouse stories.

Protagonists:

A weary raccoon,

a lagging doe,

a serpent, growing.

*******

At days’ ends, we wound down the Almota grade to our campsite there, on the breaks of the Snake River—where summer lingered, and so did we.

********

Thanks for going east with us, friends. So glad you came along.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks

*******

P.S. I did a little updating on Instagram. If you follow me there, my feed will show up for you as usual, just with a new name.

Buy Sugar Birds in ebook, audiobook or paper HERE!

Redbud Fruit 3: A Spacious Life, Reviewed

In the early pages of her new book A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits, Redbud author Ashley Hales roped me to my chair, reading more. A few lines double-knotted me there:

“Without the loving setting of limits on the natural world, it would be void and without form.”

“Limits create for us a home; they create the condition for flourishing.”

“Limits, given to the world by a loving God, are the conditions for life.”

*****

“Hm,” you say. “Limits? Spaciousness? Aren’t they mutually exclusive?”

Quite the contrary, according to Hales. In fact, acknowledging God-ordained limits on ourselves—reckoning with our smallness, instead of gulping, grasping, consuming, and trying to be big—is the very mindset that makes roomy, joyful significance possible. Limits give us space to rejuvenate and heal, to love and grow in abiding intimacy with Jesus in ways that actually make us productive in more meaningful ways.

Hales explains her position with thoughtful, wise exposition and vivid illustrations—both deep and broad—and a feast to read. As she addresses universally relevant topics, she invites us to slow down, rest, delight, and pay attention. As we do, we will enjoy community as never before, will approach material goods differently, and will thrive in hope and purpose.

I’m taking this book to heart. I loved Hales’ insights, her succinct, lyrical writing . . . all of it. I imagine pulses quieting, smiling broadening, paths crystallizing as others read this, just as mine did.

If you want a terrific book for a Christmas gift to yourself or someone you love, this is it. I’m buying mine now.

*******

And now, this week’s SM posts:

Should you lose your head . . .

“And in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority…”

—Colossians 2:10

*******

Femme fatale.

Female praying mantis.

What a flirt . . . tilting her head . . .

Beckoning with those elegant, spiny arms . . .

And that sweet little mouth will bite a boy’s head off.

*******

Rain Shadow?
By this time of year, the Palouse has typically had 16-18 inches of precipitation. Not so in 2021.So far, they’ve had 4 inches.

Four.

Even so, farmers are now seeding next year’s wheat. Trusting.

Waiting on God.

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

—Romans 12:12

*******

Forecast: Downpour.

The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”

—1 Kings 18:44

Thanks for stopping by, friends. So glad you’re here.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks

*******

P. S. Do you have your copy of Sugar Birds yet?

Get yours HERE.

Road Trips, Back to Back

If you checked for my usual Saturday post the last couple of weeks or follow me online, you’ll know that I was away, biking in Idaho and Montana with my husband and other great friends. A few days ago we returned home to mow lawn, wash clothes and again pack up, this time for our annual September trip to Washington’s Palouse—where Blake and I will roam canyons with our dogs, visit long-time friends, and gather more photos and info for my next book.

We’re headed there now. I’m typing this as we drive highway 26 between Vantage and Royal City, Washington, while a semi full of newly harvested onions drives ahead of us, and where workers pick apples in roadside orchards. My phone’s hotspot will have cell access for awhile yet—until we weave our way into the remote Palouse and drop into our campsite on the Snake River.

I like the tech disconnect in the Palouse—a forced, and welcome, neural re-set, where my phone is mostly useless. Once there, I’ll step back to simpler, kinder days. We’ll cross wheat stubble fields, climb eyebrows of wild hawthorn and balsam root. I’ll lose myself in my imaginings for my new novel, currently slated for Fall 2023 release.

And yes, it’s a Sugar Birds sequel!

Join me in this peek at our Idaho-Montana trip—and watch for Palouse shots here next week. I’ll post them to SM from hilltops, when I can . . . .

Good morning from Lake Coeur d’Alene!

*******

Sombered, we biked into this Idaho valley, one source of the smoky air in recent weeks.

Crossing hoses still spraying hot spots, we paused to feel the lingering heat, noting ash shadows and stump holes surrounding them . . . all that remained of incinerated trees along the creek.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me…”

—Psalm 23:4

*******

Spent a couple of days biking through fabulous wetlands in the Coeur d’Alene WMA (Wildlife Management Area). Home sweet home, right here.

(Beaver dam.)

*******

And then, MOOSE!

Blocking our bike trail, chewing cud . . .

Rubbing velvet off young antlers . . .

Browsing and cavorting with calves…

Turn your sound up to hear this mama :).

*******

Glacier River.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen …”

—Roman 1:20

*******

Red-soled boot?

“He will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.”

—Micah 1:3

*******

Going-to-the-Sun Road. Here: looking east, just past the continental divide at Logan Pass. (Glacier National Park)

Artist: I AM WHO I AM

Me: On my knees.

*******

Submerged.

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?”

—Job 38:16

*******

Hairy?

I’d never seen this before: Beards of daddy longlegs, clustered here at Hungry Horse Dam in Montana.
Also called harvesters, these are Opiliones—neither spider nor insect. (Back in the day I played with these harmless, gangly little guys.)

Turns out they seek moisture and warmth, so create their own microclimate in these “congregations.”

“If two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

—Ecclesiastes 4:11-12

*******

And then I looked over my shoulder and saw THIS:Clements Mountain at the top of Logan Pass, MT . . . with the waterfall still flowing. The scale and grandeur impossible to convey in a little square reproduction, but you get the drift.

*******

Fun to travel with you friends. Thanks for stopping by.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks.

*******

P.S. Have you read Sugar Birds yet? Get an audiobook, ebook or paper copy HERE.