Brenda Sieglitz

Local

Enola Low Grade Trail

My husband and I have thoroughly enjoyed biking the Enola Low Grade Trail in Manor township on the weekends.  While I dream of one day biking the entire way to the Martic township railroad trestle, where it ends until renovations are completed, today we completed over 6 miles round trip

Local

You Cannot Destroy My Safe Place

"Some religious institutions and belief systems resists and distrust the suggestion that nature and spirit are related.  Suspicious of environmentalism as an ersatz religion, they perceive a creeping, cultural animism.  This belief, which runs deep in American culture, is perhaps one of the least acknowledged but most important barriers

Life

Sacred Life

I wondered what happened to him.  The neighbor that shared my balcony in the city.  Neighbors had come and gone but he became a trusted person in the building, someone that didn't scare or worry me in spite of his tumultuous background.  But then, he was gone.  Evicted.

Life

Fear is Winning

The rain is coming down and I feel the instant relief. It washes away my stresses and brings life to the dying. I crave the cool it brings and the way it cleanses. My heart weighs heavy and the dampness fits just right. Rain doesn't solve my problems

Local

Standing Up

I walked down there tonight.  Down to the covered bridge that will be within feet of the pipeline construction zone if the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project is approved by FERC. I stood there, with my dog, imagining what it would look like with a 125-foot wide swatch of land is

Local

Pipelines Hinder Corn Crop Yields

Shared with Permission from Kevin L. Brown with the Bradford County Conservation District: We are far from doing any official work on pipeline effects on crop yields.  However, I have had several calls inviting us in to look at what has already happened on several farms.  I think that you

Local

FERC Comment on the Atlantic Sunrise Expansion Project

Reference: Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC Atlantic Sunrise Project Docket No. PF14-8 Atlantic Sunrise ID is PF14-8-000 My home is located within ¼ - ½ mile from the re-route that has been proposed in West Hempfield Township, Lancaster, County, by Williams Partners for the Atlantic Sunrise Expansion Project.  The map details

Local

Beauty in my Backyard

As the fireflies move it's as if they're floating up from the blades of grass, Shining their light in a flicker of a second before disappearing against the green. The orange of the tiger lilies burst forth from the tangled mess of leaves at their base.

Local

West Hempfield Pipeline Meeting Notes

Last evening I was pleasantly surprised to find nearly 50 people at our local West Hempfield Township meeting in Lancaster County, PA.  I had been working with Ron Youtz, township manager, for several weeks, determining the best time to hold a Q&A session for residents regarding the Atlantic

Local

Saturday Book Signing at Midtown Scholar Bookstore

I hope many of you will be to join me at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, PA from 2-4 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday June 28.  Copies will be available for sale, and I will happily sign your copy.  A portion of the proceeds will support Sarcoma related nonprofits and

Life

Grief Train

From 6/19: A friend died today. Angiosarcoma took her life.  Just like it did Kevin's in 2008. And I cry, I cry as I type.  I cry for this disease that doesn't know when to stop.  I cry for her little girls who will grow

Local

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline - Learning How to Fight

A pipeline is trying to come through my county.  It's going through the heart of where I was raised, and will also be skirting through the township where I now call home.  I see it creating a much bigger divide than just the project itself.  Landowners who need

Life

My Faith Looks Much Different

Every single time I have read through the blogs in my book in the past 5 years I feel two ways about the words of faith that I read: * I was naive to think that (and then I go back to, "well, I had to have hope!") * Where

Life

Not Good Enough

Turning 30 last week reminded of something kind of big, maybe not earth shattering, and more annoying than anything...but I've been telling myself a lot of lies. Here's some of the things my brain eeks out to me sometimes: So you wrote a book?  Big

Life

Automated Privilege

I keep hearing, more and more, that the generation of kids coming out of college expect the world.  I guess I am/was part of that.  I'm part of the generation that was taught they could do anything.  When I was in single digits, I though I would

Life

Driving into the Light

Many of you haven't had a taste of the book yet, so I wanted to share with you one of my favorite parts of the book.  It's also probably one of the difficult scenes: Kevin gets diagnosed with Angiosarcoma in the blog scene, and I am

Life

I Had a Dream My Husband Died

Early this morning I had a dream that my husband died. Yes, that already happened.  To the first one. But this dream was about my current husband.  And it wasn't by cancer. This one felt so real.  I swear it was in color.  They told me it was

Life

Book Launch Week

On Saturday, March 22, I officially launched my first book, Ebb from the Shoreline - Finding Cancer and Courage.  It's been a long 5 year journey writing this memoir which is the love story of my late husband and I, mirrored against the blogs I wrote when Kevin

Local

The Perfect Moment at the Post Office

I stood in line a bit sheepishly, taking up all of the postal worker's time.  Before me were over 40 envelopes stuffed with my memoir, ready to be shipped out to my supporters all over the US and Canada. A woman came in and I looked at her

Leisure

Seeking Solitude

I moved to Montana in 2006 for many reasons. * Chasing the beauty of the first thunderstorm I saw in its mountains in 2002 * Finding a new path for life * Exploring a different route of education * Being able to make it on my own It's only now that I

Leisure

Healing Begins Outside

If you want to help me heal, put me on a trail. It's where I think best.  It used to be that writing was the best outlet for my worries, but so many things have caused me to hold back my words.  Then, I did the worst thing

Life

The Braveness of Vulnerability

The Year of Bravery.  You're going to hear about this journey throughout 2014.  One of the things I didn't expect to explore this year was vulnerability.  When I think of bravery, I think of strength, going above and beyond, pushing the limits, being fearless, exploring new

Life

Being a Neighbor in Grief

People associate being neighborly within your own immediate community, but it goes beyond that.  Last night, this post begun very differently in my mind.  It was focused more on getting out and being nice to people no matter how different they are from yourself.  This morning, in light of some

Life

Bravery and Liberation in the Cold, Hard Winter

Last night I got a lot off of my chest.  I was able to release all of my "big questions" with 5 other women in my friend's basement and 2 hours later I left feeling as if much of my anxiety had been released. My anxiety

Life

Standing with My Brother - Guest Blog by Matt Trebesch

Matt was one of the first to greet me in my new hometown of Missoula, Montana when I moved there on my own in 2006.  It felt good knowing that I knew someone in this lonely Western town surrounded by the Bitterroot mountains.  We have remained long distance friends through