Woven on the wind Book

Contents

Introduction: Voices Woven of Wind and Sage xv

I My Feet Set Down Roots:The Grounding 1

Jane Wells, My Heart Still Grins 5 June Frankland Baker, June and I, Singing 6 Kathleene West, Thinking of Rain in the Dry Season 6 Mary Hadley, No Room for Strangers 7 Sherry Schultz Shillenn, Dear Judy 10 Agnes L. Wich, Letter to a “Friend" 11 Helen Applegarth McConnell, Goldie 13 Diane J. Raptosh, The Rapture 14 Shannon Dyer, Girls’ Night Out 14 Joyce Badgley Hunsaker, Something of the Earth 17 Stephanie Pershing Buehler, Sisters 19 Deb Carpenter, Love and Light 20 Eva Potts Wells Burton, Without a Doubt 20 Peggy Sanders, If . . . 20 Sheila Vosen-Shorten, Pearls from the Milk 21 Anne Slade, Tea with Daphne 23 Caroline Patterson, Preserving 24 Stephanie Painter, Trinity 26 May H. Baughman, Stella He 28 C. L. Prater, Aunt Noi 29 Jo-Ann Swanson, The Oddest Daughter 30 Cheryl Anderson Wright, Homemade Noodles 33 Charlotte M. Babcock, The Path 34 Norma Nelson Duppler, Secret Sin 35 Barbara M. Smith, Ladies Aid 37 Sandra Gail Teichmann, Light 38 Echo Roy, Prairie Ocean 41 Kathryn E. Kelley, That’s What Neighbors Do 42 Mary Peace Finley, Rosario 43 Ginny Jack Palumbo, Elvira 44 Linda M. Hasselstrom, Six Artists at a Country Retreat 45 Lorrie Mydland, Beverly 48 Jeannie Fox, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star 50 Saundra DeRemer, Summer Friends 52 Betty Downs, Learning How to Be Lonely 53 Faye Schrater, Dormant Seeds Sprouting 55 Janelle Masters, Of Potatoes and the Wind 57 Lee Ann Roripaugh, Pearls 59 Robin Littlefield, The Art of Living the Moment 61 Judith McConnell Steele, The Women 63 Lillian Vilborg, Sigga 64 Ellen Vayo, Lupe’s Song 66 Lucy L. Woodward, The Lady Who Knew How to Live 67 Eileen Thiel, Resolving Mrs. Wackerly 70 Ellen Waterston, Spun Sugar 72 Karen N. Miller, Capes 73 Dawn Senior, Wyoming Mother 75 Candy Hamilton, Women in the Rain 77 Dorothy Blackcrow Mack, Belonging to the Black Crows 79 Sue Leever, Pink Iron Nails 84 Carolyn Dufurrena, Ghost of April, 1978 86 Dianna Torson, Joan 88 Mary Harman, Some Things Never Change 88 Mary Lou Sanelli, Marriage 92 Sureva Towler, Up Fortification Creek 93 Barbara Rinehardt, Divas for a Day 95 Sharon R. Bryant, Dear Berry 96 Wanda Morgan, Friends for Life 98 B. J. Buckley, A Man’s Work 100

II Leaves Speak for You: The Nourishing 103

Thelma Poirier, chokecherries 107 Diane Josephy Peavey, Coming Home 107 Colette “Koko” Knutson Gjermundson, Friends Because 110 Charlotte M. Babcock, Letters to Lil 111 Dianne P. Rood Kiesz, Time for Friendship 115 Nancy Curtis, La-vin-i-a 115 Laurie Wagner Buyer, There Were No Women 119 Wanda Rosseland, Because Men Rule 122 Anne Fantaci Clement, The Reclamation 123 Karen Obrigewitch, Who Else? 127 Karen M. Berry, Gram’s Vegetables 127 Twyla Hansen, At the Prairie, the Day Before 129 Jennifer Green, Saying Good-bye to ’Nali 131 Page Lambert, Backbeat 134 Ara Anderson, Strung on Sinew 136 Jennifer Graf Groneberg, Handwork 136 Linda Boyden, Whatever Works 137 Bernie Koller, Lessons Learned by Hand 140 Ellen Vayo, Granma’s Gloves 143 Heidi R. Cousins, Old Ladies Go Hunting 143 Lois Hart, Muskrat Ramble 146 Donna Parks, Spider Beside Her 147 Lee Ann Siebken, The Storm 147 Tina Welling, Passage 152 Sandie Nicolai and Norma J. Kulas, End of the World 153 Donna Gray, Huddled for Warmth 156 Ruby R. Wilson, Mother Love 156 B. J. Buckley, The Woman, Listening on the Party Line 158 Gin Scott, Shifting Gears 159 Claudette Ortiz, Co-Madres 162 Gael Seed, Barriers of Silence 163 Vee Hageman, Majesty 166 Kathy Hanks, Hog Wars 167 Donna Britton Harvey, Don’t Step in the Cactus 169 Tena Cook Gould, The Night 170 Mary Lou Sanelli, Trying to Remember She Is Now a Man 170 Pamela J. Ochsner, Vi and Me 171 Phyllis M. Letellier, Whistling Girls and Knitting 173 Lois Jean Moore, Sybil Harris 174 Pearle Henriksen Schultz, Barbed Wire and Robert Frost 176 Gaydell Collier, Knowing with the Heart 177 Jody Strand, Maybe Slower Is Better 180 Mary Alice Gunderson, Leah, Bright and Dark 181 Cleo Cantlon, The Heart Knows 183 Patricia Archie, The Sunset Café 184 Julene Bair, At Forty-five 186 Rian Connors, Full Monty 190 Elizabeth Canfield, Living Without Loneliness 191 Lyn DeNaeyer, A Woman’s Place 192 Nedalyn D. Testolin, Sky, Grass, Rain, and Sage 193 Jane Elkington Wohl, Daily Acts of Courage 195

III New Flowers Unfolding: The Promise 197

Lee Ann Roripaugh, Oyurushi: Forgiveness 201 Susann McCarthy, The Company of Women 201 Lora K. Reiter, She Was Writing 203 Carol Boies, The Wedding Shower 204 Lucy Adkins, Linda 206 Kay Marie Porterfield, The Legacy 207 Lyn DeNaeyer, Resurrections 2209 A. Rose Hill, The Gift 210 Susan Minyard, word 211 Virginia Bennett, Tapestry of Knots 216 Maura T. Callahan, Pilgrimage 217 Emily Boies, What Makes Our Lives 219 Georgia Rice, Tea for Two 220 Patricia Frolander, Sisterhood 222 Darcy Acord, Dearrrrr Ann 223 Shelly Whitman Colony, Common Ground 226 Sister Hildegard Dubnick, OSB, Holy Ground 228 Mary Garrigan, The Concubine 231 Sue Hartman, Anneen 234 Thelma Poirier, wild roses 239 Sophie Dominik Echeverria, My Mother’s Moccasins 239 Melinda Stiles, Her Soul Lives Here 243 Mary E. Schnell, Let the Circle Be Unbroken 245 Janet E. Graebner, Melissa 246 Louise Engelstad, Reclaiming Mother’s World 248 Diane J. Raptosh, Matrimony 249 Gwen Petersen, The Shell Game 250 Bonnie Larson Staiger, Cycles 252 Jo-Ann Swanson, Alva in the Fields 253 Candi Red Cloud, How I Became My Own Woman 254 Katy Paynich, Defying Bare Branches 256 Laura Hawkins Grevel, Dear Quilting Sisters 258 Susan Vittitow, Jean 259 Donna Applegarth Mentink, Come Home 263 Maureen Tolman Flannery, Before She Left 263 Hilary Barton Billman, How the West Was Won 265 Maureen Cain, Car Pool Friendship 267 Louise Steneck, Circled in Shadows 269 Maureen Helms Blake, To Breathe on My Own 270 Jane Elkington Wohl, Below Zero—December 272 Vanessa Hastings, Cultivating the Iris, Dawn of Change 273 Doris Bircham, The Waiting 278 Cindy Bellinger, To Smooth a Mountain 279 A. Rose Hill, Barefooting Summer 280 Susan Austin and Laurie Kutchins, The Field Road 281 Jeanne Rogers, Community of Stones 289 Marjorie Saiser, My Old Aunts Play Canasta in a Snowstorm 290

Contributors 295 Acknowledgments 311 Credits 312