It is not an easy thing to be human. Our story includes such a powerful and persistant villain. This was true 2,000 years ago -- when unopposed government might and faithless religion were among Satan's works of the day. It is true today -- as anyone with any exposure to the news surely knows. This… Continue reading What blood can do
Author: JOY journal
After a long career writing for local newspapers — and, on rare occasions, for publications such as The Washington Post — Nora is enjoying a second wind as an innkeeper. She still blogs and does writing projects of special interest. She lives in Appalachia with her husband and a dog named Finn, who is beside himself with joy when the family's daughters have college breaks.
A Life In Pieces
The mid-life lesson I'm learning from a winter's worth of frantic quilt completion is not about skill. As you can see, I have little. My stitches are free range and low on the count-per-inch chart. My seams rarely line up in proper fashion. No, the message in all those bits of fabric -- coming together… Continue reading A Life In Pieces
Why we’re not toast
Our "new" toaster ticks like something that needs to be defused. That's not its only unusual feature. When my husband decided to make late-night toast without turning on the kitchen lights for some reason, we discovered it also glows. In a hot-red-wire, pulsing kind of way. Like really pulsing. Pulsing that would have alarmed most… Continue reading Why we’re not toast
The Power of Oranges
There was a time in the 1900s -- beginning by at least the Great Depression and ending sometime in the late 1980s -- when brown paper bags filled with fruit, nuts and candy were a thing in the low-church world. On the last service before Christmas Day, each person in attendance (including babies) received a… Continue reading The Power of Oranges
The Kitchen Stack
An odd thing has happened to the kitchen table in our first few months of empty nesting. One end -- the place where our firstborn sits when she is home -- has become a place for books. There's always a volume or two that is devotional in nature -- tidily tucked under a beeswax candle… Continue reading The Kitchen Stack
Nora Edinger -- JOY Journal 