I lived for five years across a narrow one-way street from a Quaker Meetinghouse with a 200-year-old maple in its lawn. No one else on the street needed to have a tree, the maple provided leaves enough for the whole neighborhood when it flamed out each autumn. I gloried in its wonder every fall and affectionately called it the Quaker Maple. Leaving the Quaker Maple was almost the hardest part of moving away from that apartment.
Now my neighbor across the street has a maple. It still needs nearly two centuries to catch up with the Quaker Maple’s glory, but I’ve been delighted each fall to track the progress of autumn through the alighting leaves of Homer’s Maple. This week it’s been tinged all around with reds and golds, but its branches still carry their leaf-burden. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Around the Web
The Three Little Pigs: A Book List
You need this book list of retellings of The Three Little Pigs story—you just might not know it yet.
- Just for fun, here’s a round-up of some delightful version of the classic folktale “The Three Little Pigs” along with some funny spoofs and spins. Enjoy!
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You Want to Be Addicted to Distraction
Justin Taylor helps us look clearly at our addiction to distraction.
- Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) once wrote:
I have often said that the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.
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Truth and Story
Megan at Redeemed Reader helps us look at categories for examining books.
- “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…”
Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
This verse applies to books and readers, too. This is the foundation of why we read to the glory of God, because we have Him to thank for excellent literature.
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Not as the World: Finding Peace in Motherhood
Elizabeth Lyvers looks at the calling to motherhood with fresh eyes.
- The sun dips and light filters through the back window, washing my kitchen in a warm shade of orange. It would be peaceful, except for the teething baby screeching in his highchair. The sizzling of a half-cooked dinner on the stove. The drumming in my head from sleeplessness. Fading light reminds me that the day is closing, but my responsibilities are endless.
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Around the Warren
Calling Out Your Name
Glenn McCarty is Kickstarting a new Tumbleweed Thompson book—go, click HERE and back that now, then come back and read—and he has good things to say about the golden road and the call of the American west.
- During my senior year of high school — in the interest of full disclosure, that would be winter, 1996 — I came into possession of a cassette tape of the greatest hits album Songs, by singer/songwriter Rich Mullins.
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Mystery Stories on a Mountaintop
Kathryn Butler suggests a new tradition.
- For the past three years, our family has celebrated the end of summer with a week in the mountains at the same off-the grid cabin. Over time, certain features of the place have woven themselves into our memories, like familiar friends with whom we can’t wait to reunite. We all delight in the view of the pond, the panorama of the mountains, and how the peaks deepen to shades of violet and misty blue as the sun sets.
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Something to Do with Your Kids
I remember in Kindergarten learning letters with cartoon letter-people characters who were hung up all around the room. Perhaps that’s why I love this letter T craft so much!
Something to Watch
Wanna blow your brain with a mathematical riddle? Check this out.

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side.
–The Story Warren Team
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 5 - February 15, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 4 - February 1, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 3 - January 25, 2025
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