Exploring the Jungle - a Column by Mary Lott

Last summer, my right knee hurt. As far as I know there was no injury; it just hurt. The pain grew to the point where I hobbled around the house. I used food delivery services and generally babied my knee. Eventually, I went to my doctor. At the doctor’s office,…

“Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel/ Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel/… In the windmills of your mind.” When I try to figure out cold agglutinin disease (CAD), my mind goes round and round and never quite settles on one…

In March, a prayer request was passed through our expatriate community here in Indonesia. Someone was suffering the lingering effects of a bout with dengue fever. A follow-up message soon arrived detailing what was happening. This person had low hemoglobin levels, was weaker than expected, and was a little yellowish.

I blinked several times in the bright sunlight as I started down the stairs that had been rolled up to the airplane. The airport seemed strangely built, with two large buildings topped by tall, cone-shaped roofs. A man was at the bottom of the stairs, and we instantly recognized that…

“Easy, easy,” I said in my most reassuring voice. “It’s very easy to get to my house. There are only two turns.” Despite that, the courier from the shipping company was telling me that I lived too far out in the jungle for him to possibly find my house and…

Inhaling deeply, I took in the clearness of the June morning. The zoysia grass in our front yard was thick and green and luscious, like a deep-pile carpet. Off in the distance, I could hear a hawk squawking at its mate. Some magnolia blossoms were on low-hanging branches nearby, and…

Looking out my window as I start to write this column, I see what appears to be a sunny day. But there’s a cloud covering the top part of the mountain, so it may not be sunny for long. My pets, Pokey and Ginger, are sound asleep. Should I get…

I had a silly grin on my face. Then a giggle escaped. Finally, I quit trying and gave in to the belly laugh. Pokey, my dog, jumped up from his spot on the bed and glared at me. I can’t help it. I’ve been rereading C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters”…

I love a beach day. I’m always good for warm, salt-water therapy. The sun warms my bones, and sand crunching beneath my feet softens and smooths my callouses. As the waves gently lap ashore, all is peaceful and calm. Imagine being tasked with finding one special grain of sand on…

Tilting my head upward, I looked to the stars. There it was, the easiest constellation for me to identify: Orion. I identified it by the three stars in a row that make up his belt, and then looked down to his right side — my left — and saw the…