RockWall Cottage Chronicles

A newsy, sometimes amusing, usually interesting fly-on-the-RockWall view of my life as an author with updates from my Substack adventures.

The small cottage where I live and write has been affectionally named RockWall Cottage because of the rock wall that divides our side of the property from the side of the property where our friends, the owners of the cottage, live. (Learn More)

What Has Been Happening at RockWall Cottage?

Scott is taking baby steps and sometimes significant leaps toward healing. As my need for caregiving begins to relax, I realize how far I was stretched and how quickly I run out of energy—sometimes in mid-sentence. I am listening to my body closely and stepping back when even small tasks feel overwhelming. Recovering at 71 is nothing like recovery during my younger years when a good night’s sleep was all I needed.

We haven’t had any further Chicken Mayhem though Weber spends significant time sniffing the area where he captured the unfortunate chicken whenever he goes outside. I sense his chicken-killer instincts have ruined his ability to simply enjoy the backyard. Alas.

The mountains are receiving significant snow and I witnessed a few flakes this morning, but it doesn’t look hopeful for posting a “snow at the cottage” photo. I leave a picture of the beautiful snow event that occurred not long after we moved to Washington. It is a rare thing here in the lowlands.

News, Highlights from Previous Weeks, What’s Coming, and Other Stuff

• It was with great sadness that we canceled our plane tickets to attend the Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) Trauma Sensitive Schools Conference this month. I will be participating in the virtual conference but was so looking forward to the conference. Last year we missed because of my health concerns, and this year due to Scott’s. I guess that evens it up, doesn’t it?

• There is still time to register for either the in-person (Atlanta) conference or the virtual conference. You can access information here. If you live in Georgia, there are scholarships available. If you live in Virginia there may be funds available for the virtual conference!

  

• A week ago, while sitting in a very uncomfortable chair in the ER—for at least six hours, I often thought about how the large block of time could be used productively. It couldn’t. So I played 40 levels of this game. Count them—40. Sometimes you do what you need to do.

One of the most amusing things about this game is how positive and affirming it is. Note, I got 9 points out of 2025 (epic fail) and the game said, “So Close!” I can’t decide if it is an example of toxic positivity or an affirmation of trying our best in difficult circumstances. Either way, I had a good laugh over it.

Repeat of Information From Last Week

Since new subscribers continue to arrive, I am repeating this information.

• If you are new here and interested in the series that I have posted in the past, you can access those in the Substack Series section.

• My main objective here on my Substack is to provide hope and insights for healing from childhood adversity/trauma and religious trauma. The world feels very chaotic right now and it is overwhelming. I usually reserve any writing on more political topics for Saturday McMusings. Sometimes, when it feels unnecessary to add another voice to the overwhelm, I post but do not send the article in email newsletters. I circle for some time before writing and hopefully provide a balanced perspective. My reflections will show up on the main page and I share links in these Monday posts. Last night’s post was A Plea for Mercy: Reflections on a Sermon.

• While I do not officially recommend substack pages or resources unless I have some personal connection with the writer the following are some that do a deep dive into the issues I most often write about. (Those I recommend are listed with a note explaining why on my Homepage.)

1. Kristen De Muz (“Historian of gender, faith, politics. Author of NYT-bestselling Jesus and John Wayne, and A New Gospel for Women.”)

2. Heather Cox Richardson (“A political historian who uses facts and history to put the news in context.” I most appreciate the historical connections!)

3. Benjamin Cremer (Not on substack—he attended college with my son and I began listening to his wisdom in the earliest days of his journey. “Navigate difficult topics, heal from church hurt, move away from religious absolutism and follow Jesus into the gray areas of life together.”

4. Scot McKnight: Scot’s Newsletter (Professor of New Testament and author of A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing and Pivot: The Priorities, Practices, and Powers That Can Transform Your Church into a Tov Culture. I especially enjoy his weekly Meanderings.)

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Subscriber Note: You Can Choose

You can choose what you want to receive from my Substack! I do not expect everyone to be interested in everything! My writing speaks to many different audiences. If you only want emails on particular topics, you can do that!

1. Click on the Unsubscribe button at the top of the email.

2. There will be a choice to go to my Substack Website—click on that.

3. All of the sections of my Substack are listed —you can choose! (If you leave the top one green, you will receive everything I send.)