Mary Ellen Ashcroft

My blogs

About me

Occupation Retreat leader, writer, priest
Location Colvill, North Shore of Lake Superior, United States
Introduction For much of my life I've been a multi-tasking English professor, writer, Episcopal priest, mother....and now I'm starting a retreat center on the rocky coast near the Canadian border. Lake Superior is always present, as is the sky. My book Dogspell: The Gospel According to Dog has recently been published in a new edition. I'm working on another book--largely memoir. Every day I write, pray, hike with the dogs, and knit. I'm learning new things all the time, like making Mukluks, sanding cabinets, doing compost.
Interests Hiking, paddling, cross country skiing, knitting, writing, reading, bird- watching, sewing, spinning, tiling, rock collecting.
Favorite Movies The Visitor, Babette's Feast, O Brother Where art Thou?, Winged Migration, Jean de Florette.
Favorite Music Ralph Vaughn Williams and Benjamin Britten are two favorite composers.
Favorite Books Favorite authors are Virginia Woolf, George Eliot, E.M. Forster, Sigrid Undset; poetry by Denise Levertov, Mary Oliver, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot; environmental writing by Loren Eiseley, Sigurd Olsen, Wendell Berry. Theology by Rowan Williams, Roberta Bondi, Dorothee Soelle.

The hair from your last haircut ... what would it say about your new style?

We're not obsessed with our hair in the north woods.