Jane Pettibone

Springtime. Season of Growth. Season of Emergence. New life pushing through iced snow fields, hard clumped soil, wooden-fibered branch. It can be a seemingly destructive enterprise; a formidable journey. What initially appears to be insurmountable chaos can transform into blossom and fruit, fragrance and color. Perhaps it is counter-intuitive that the flowering begins with sacrifice: the shedding of leaves, the slow breathless dormancy, the decomposition of outer shells. Status quo sloughed away for the ultimate journey … Read more

  I saw an eagle today mount up beyond a hill and then turn in the wind currents, wings extended fully in lift. It veered sharply and then swooped below my line of sight only to rise and surf the sky again and again. The subdued lighting of a damp afternoon accentuated its wings into detailed fans of brown feathers textured and intricately woven in a multitude of shades. I watched its magnificent dance of … Read more

Have you ever had doubts about your purpose? Experienced a lag in inspiration? Felt overwhelmed? Scratched your head? Well, say no more. It’s a common thing that happens to many people one time or another! A funny thing happened to me this month as I attended The Denver Post Pen and Podium lecture series featuring Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and short story writer Anthony Doerr at the University of Denver Newman Center for the Performing Arts. … Read more

Opening the door of January, . . . what will it bring? Second chances, a new start, beginning again?  Such thoughts may bubble up like the effervescence of New Year’s champagne and will hopefully continue with vitality and a freshness as we step into the new year with hope, purpose, and resolve. I look out on a snowy meadow, the white flakes glistening on the bare hanger of branch. On that stark white outline before a blue sky, buds have … Read more

Ever listen to a story or poem and become wrapped (rapt) in a heightened sense of imagination and wonder? Think snow in Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales about the author’s recollection as a small boy at Christmastime. Thomas’ radio recording of this piece in 1952 at Steinway Hall in New York soared with popularity for his playful and frolicking prose and wonderful speaking voice. Both his audio recording and his written words are celebrated by thousands … Read more

In Pursuit of Bread and Angels ♥ At the bakery the other day, I bought two loaves of bread for a couple of teachers who had shared their wisdom and time in a class I was taking. The symbolism of breaking bread with others, especially in this month of Thanksgiving, tugged at my heartstrings. Thoughts of just baked bread steaming hot from the oven and then shared across the table with family and loved ones … Read more

What’s happened America? Sighs, disbelief, despair? Where has the honor and privilege of vying to lead our country gone? We’ve seen the most contentious presidential campaign right smack in the center of our day-to-days. So in place of the brutal attacks, ranting, and brow beating, here’s a thought or pause to gentle the way or maybe to salve the weary. Wonder is the beginning of Wisdom.     —Socrates Real Suffering bravely borne, melts even a heart of … Read more

One of the beautiful things about the concept of story is the transfer of an idea or image from one person to another through words. Susannah, the Shepherd Woman, in Kathy Coffey’s book “Hidden Women of the Gospels” compares words to jewels: Until then, I had never known that words could be precious stones, treasured like jewels, unwrapped, turned over and over, admired. (Kathy Coffey, Hidden Women of the Gospels [New York: Orbis Books, 2003], … Read more

Ever want perfect symmetry in your world? All the right angles to be perfectly square? All the pictures on the wall to hang with a perfectly aligned bubble in the level?  Balanced—Proportional—Perfect? Hmmm . . . .   Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines symmetry as: the property of being symmetrical; especially correspondence in size, shape, and relative position of parts on opposite sides of a dividing line or meridian plane or about a center or axis It’s … Read more

Have you ever opened a door or come to a passageway and felt you were at the threshold of something exciting, mysterious, promising, or foreboding? Doors and passageways from ancient times to modern day are conduits in our lives. They can swing open or simply beckon us to a particular space. Conversely, they can remain closed, locked, or barricaded. Towering or miniscule, embellished or barren, arched or perpendicular, transparent or solid, organic or inorganic, of … Read more