Ruth Witte

Mom’s Passing

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When we were in Southwest Harbor in October 1996 I was shocked at how emaciated my mother looked when they met us for lunch at Jordan Pond. Yet it didn’t register what the cause might be, as she breezily commented that she had “lost 25 pounds, Thank God”.  It was one of those “Huh” moments … Read more

The Backyard

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Taking the time to wander daily around the backyard as a child became a life altering experience for me. The variety of flowering shrubs in our small yard was astounding. There was a hedge of deep purple, lavender and white lilacs that ran along the property line to the east, clouds of fragrance wafting through … Read more

15 Things

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I am not cut out to be a housewife- our house is embarrassing 97% of the time.  I can’t get after the boys to clean their rooms because our room is the worst one in the house, but I think my family is afraid to point that out to me, although Ben has commented on … Read more

From whence I come

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I come from stock of the Depression era, with resultant parental frugality and childhood sense of deprivation in the midst of a well-off and ritzy suburb of Boston. I come from the fifties…  Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver, and Father Knows Best sense of strong family values and clear division of labor, martinis … Read more

Looking at the bigger picture

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I believe that a loving spirit and creative energy surrounds and passes through each of us, and all of life and nature. One has to be present in the moment to be aware of this energy. A tiny flame within each of us (Love) will act as an inner guide in navigating, clarifying, and illuminating … Read more

Coffee Grounds

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Does “coffee grounds” always refer to those that have been spent. Ground coffee before, and coffee grounds after? Coffee grounds stink once the juice of the bean has been steeped.  They make a huge mess when being dumped from the filter, they hit the edge of the garbage can and land sprawled across the kitchen … Read more

Pruning Back the Dysfunction

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Pruning Back the Dysfunction   When my mother died 20 some years ago, my children and I planted a variegated maple tree in the front yard, in her memory.  Occasionally a non-variegated branch emerges from the trunk. If not pruned away, more and more of the tree will lose its variegation. If left unattended, the … Read more

Becoming a Writer

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I vividly remember learning to write my name in kindergarten. Miss Dolan hand wrote the letters to trace in colored marker, on long, yellowish double-spaced penmanship paper with green lines. I got so excited when my teacher used orange for my letters (not to mention how impressed I was that same year, when I discovered … Read more