By Esther C. Baird, as written for the Silver Bay Spiritual Life Center, Silver Bay, NY. To subscribe to the mailing please email: pastoralrespite@silverbay.org Over the years our two girls have been involved in a variety of ways at Silver Bay. They’ve been kids at Silver Camp, program members going to sailing and art classes, and most…
Author: Esther Baird
Out, out, damn spot
by Esther C. Baird, first published in the Ipswich Local News, January 25, 2023 I’ve written a lot about teeth over the years. Regular readers will recall the girl’s first tooth losses … and then the second through one billionth losses when the Tooth Fairy didn’t quite live up to expectations, (the expectation being that…
Dreams of naps for the New Year
By Esther C. Baird. First published in the Ipswich Local News, January 5, 2023 Well, here we are again, staring down another New Year with all our hopes and dreams for world peace, no global pandemics, a calm election cycle, or — look, I’d settle for just a nap. I’d also settle for a car…
The Practical Beauty of the Beatitudes: blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth
By Esther C. Baird, as written for the Silver Bay Spiritual Life Center, Silver Bay, NY. To subscribe to the mailing please email: pastoralrespite@silverbay.org If you’ve been to Lake George in the winter, perhaps snowshoeing at Silver Bay, or simply happy to stay inside by a roaring fire, you know that when the lake finally freezes over,…
The Practical Beauty of the Beatitudes: blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
By Esther C. Baird, as written for the Silver Bay Spiritual Life Center, Silver Bay, NY. To subscribe to the mailing please email: pastoralrespite@silverbay.org Last spring, our family dog passed away while lying on our dock overlooking Lake George. Blue was a dog who loved the lake and, though we live in Boston for most of the year,…
Twinkle twinkle little candle
By Esther C. Baird, First published in the Ipswich Local New 12/2/2022 Regular readers know we are early Christmas decorators. Out with the blah browns and dead leaves and in with the festive colors and sparkling lights. Speaking of light, my entire yuletide purpose, if distilled down to its essence, is to illuminate my tiny part of…
Coloring with reason
By Esther C. Baird, first published in the Ipswich Local News on Nov 3, 2022 Regular readers may recall that in the early pandemic days, I created an “art block” for our daily home-bound schedule. We expressed our hopes and dreams and growing claustrophobia through landscapes and still lifes and an unfortunate incident painting (“Bunnies…
The Practical Beauty of the Beatitudes: blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
By Esther C. Baird, as written for the Silver Bay Spiritual Life Center, Silver Bay, NY. To subscribe to the mailing please email: pastoralrespite@silverbay.org Good Morning, It was a perfect summer day (like most days were this last summer). I sat on our family dock looking south to Silver Bay’s Slim Point two coves away. I could see the…
Jumpstarting fall
By Esther C. Baird, first published in the Ipswich Local News September 28, 2022 Hey, regular readers! I’m back with a new column home. Last spring, after our eldest daughter graduated from high school, our older dog, Blue Ears, passed away, and I resigned from my Church Land job of over a decade. I needed…
The Practical Beauty of the Beatitudes: Intro
By Esther C. Baird, as written for the Silver Bay Spiritual Life Center, Silver Bay, NY. To subscribe to the mailing please email: pastoralrespite@silverbay.org Good Morning, Well it’s officially Fall. For many of us that means we aren’t at Lake George, (even though it’s arguably the most beautiful time to be there,) but rather we are…