LuAnn Cooley, Ph.D.

I averted a crisis yesterday. Little did I know, but the world was about to come to an end. I’ve been canning. Tomatoes have all but taken over my life. That’s what’s in season. Last week it was beets and cucumbers I turned into pickles and peaches I turned into jam— plain, habanero, ginger, and cardamon. Ryan of Ryan’s Orchard taunted me with a 10 gallon bucket of seconds for $10. My eyes glazed over. At that price in a year when a cold snap damaged most of the peach crop, I

I was at one of those wonderful fundraiser dinners the other night where high school students serve the food. Near the end of the evening, I took a break from my volunteer tasks and stood in line with a plate. As I got to the last young man, the line stalled at the dessert table so I struck up a conversation. “Are you a junior or senior this year?” He was dark hair, dark eyes, bright smile, and had the anticipatory pride of one about to launch into the world at a particular m

Let me preface this by saying it is about my needing to upgrade my storytelling skills and not about talking to a brutally honest 10-year old. Ellie & I were waiting in the car before going inside for her dance class so I decided to tell her about my little miracle the day before. After moving we "lost" the metal box that holds all our important documents, searched everywhere for 3 weeks, and finally rented another storage unit to move boxes from the one that you can hardly w