Irmgarde Brown

I am a semi-retired librarian/manager, a long-time blogger, a photographer, a playwright and director, an active volunteer in the Havre de Grace arts community, a friend to the Village of Hope, Zambia, a graduate of the Living School for Action and Contemplation, and an Episcopalian after forty years in the non-denominational church. I am a widow, the mother of three adoptees from Eastern Europe (now grown), and a grandmother of three. Sister Jane was my debut novel while Sister Jane's Lenten Journal is novella that overlaps Sister Jane by 40 days and ends on the same day. Sister Jane's Lenten Journal begins on the first day of Covid in Washington state. And now, I am offering a true short story, The Blue Bicycle, for signing up to my mailing. My new novel, Children in the City of Czars, launched December 3, 2023 and is available at most online stores. Check at your local library and ask them to buy a copy. 

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Travel, Beauty, and Awakening

Travel, Beauty, and Awakening
by Irmgarde Brown

I just returned from a long awaited “bucket list” trip down the Danube. While waiting and planning for this trip for the past sixteen months, I felt sure this would be the cruise of a lifetime. Instead, the ship was stymied by heavy rains in Slovakia prior to our arrival that caused flooding and high waters downriver which meant our ship (run by Viking) would be unable to “fit” under the bridges along the way. My river cruise turned into a bus tour over half the time. 

On Gratitude

by Irmgarde Brown

I was told it takes about 10,000 repetitions and reminders before a child learns to say “please” and/or “thank you.” Courtesy is a lovely thing, but not automatic.  

However, does repetition translate into authentic appreciation or gratitude? Have cultural norms merely trained us to spout rote responses in the name of politeness without meaning?  

According to “Psychology Today” https://shorturl.at/o7iSV gratitude is an appreciation for what one has. How many of us are truly satisfied with life as it is, with what we own now? Am I? 

I’m working on it.

Bingo!

Bingo!
by Irmgarde Brown

Bingo!

Oh, when we hear that word resound through the room: Bingo! Some voices exultant and laughing while others are disappointed and we can hear the banter, “I was so close,” or “I just needed one more square,” and so on. We all end up in the spirit of the thing. And we want to be happy for that winner, and yet, of course, there’s that little voice inside our heads, “I wanted to win.”

This Season

This Season
by Irmgarde Brown

It’s March and once again, despite knowing this happens to me every year, when the temperature hits seventy and the flowers bust out, I think, “hooray, spring is early this year.” Until the thermostat plummets into the thirties the very next day, and I have to drag out my sweaters. Dang. When will I learn? 

Baby It's Cold Outside

Baby It's Cold Outside
by Irmgarde Brown

Last week, a friend introduced me to a wonderful book, All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss who wrote this book with her own children in mind to make the Advent season, those four weeks prior to Christmas, more meaningful than the typical chocolate coin calendars. Boss has since adapted the book for adults. Her short animal essays (twenty-five of them) beautifully capture the hours, days, and weeks prior to the numbing cold of winter each animal must endure and ultimately adapt, from turtle to chipmunk to fox and even bear. These animal stories have much to teach us about our own relationship with darkness and cold and self-preservation.