Cleaning Out the Old, Day 21 - One Box at a Time

When I started this theme of cleaning out the old a month ago, I had no idea I was going to touch such a collective nerve with either the topic or with my writings on it. I usually offer people a chance...

Cleaning Out the Old, Day 20 - Spring Ephemerals

​It’s Spring Ephemerals time out here in the woods of Georgia, US. If you’re a native plant person, if you’re a hiker, if you love tiny flowers, you can’t help but get a little excited at this time of...

Cleaning Out the Old, Day 19 - The Pros

There’s an art to getting people to part with their things. Some people have it, some rush in like a bull in a china shop and set themselves up for disaster, usually with their parents or grandparents....

Cleaning Out the Old, Day 18 - The Inconvenient Truth

Junkyard Campfire Moon, by Baggeb. Used by permission of the artist. > “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a person in possession of goods and fortune, must be in want of a landfill.” - Not-Jane...

Cleaning Out the Old, Day 17 - Transformations

It’s been just about a full year since I opened the first box down there in the basement and got the cleaning-out process started. I had a driving need to “get ready,” to create closure and make space...

Cleaning Out the Old, Day 16 - holy sites

An evocative photo of my mother – also in the box, also kept by my father. > the places in our heart > where the world took bites > out of us > > may never fully heal > and will likely become > wide...