• Farming - Fun

    Herding Goats

    April 21, 2023 - By 

    Did you know that you can rent goats. I mean, if you’ve been following my blog and you’ve read this post then you know this already. But if you’re new here then – yes, you can RENT GOATS. Rented goats are, in my opinion, some of the best kind of goats because you get all of the benefits with none of the responsibility. The wonderful, spunky, capable, knowledgeable lady who owns the business (aptly named Goats on the Go) takes care of all the details. She sets up a perimeter fence to keep the goats contained to their area. She…

  • Family

    When it Rains (and rains and rains)

    April 21, 2023 - By 

    The theme of this April has been rain. Akin to that old saying, “when it rains, it pours.” And also, that other one about April Showers so whomever is out there I’M WAITING FOR THE MAY FLOWERS ANY DAY NOW. It has been pouring rain in my life both figuratively and literally for the last week. This past Sunday, while on a rainy Florida Vacation, my husband and I watched the much acclaimed movie “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” A movie summary on Wikipedia describes it as such: Evelyn Quan Wang is a middle-aged Chinese American immigrant who runs a laundromat with…

  • Family - Fun - Parenting

    In the Blink of an Eye

    March 28, 2023 - By 

    I touched on this the other day, when I wrote: Time flies slowly then disappears in the blink of an eye. In our family, we are at that cusp. That age when you recognize that your kids are Big Kids. Just a few years away from Teenagers. That every moment they are still a Little Kid – you should cherish that. It’s almost a part of your past. They are almost too grown for those midnight nightmares and impromptu hugs and can-you-cut-the-crusts-off-my-bread. Which is why, as a grown woman of over 40 years old, for the last two nights I…

  • Uncategorized

    On Youth and Aging

    March 27, 2023 - By 

    When I was nineteen, I wrote a poem about getting older. This is that poem. Time is tricky. Not in a dramatic sense, but in the sort of gradual sense where years go by and suddenly you realize that you’re not twenty anymore. Yet there are still those days when your back doesn’t hurt and you get enough sleep and you eat properly and you may, in fact, still feel twenty. They say – these same people who once advised that time will creep up on you until it smacks you in the face – that a similar phenomenon happens…

  • Throwback - Travel

    The Vast Nostalgia of Addresses Past

    March 13, 2023 - By 

    I have moved a lot of times and lived a lot of places. Different cities, different states, different countries. And whenever I re-visit a place that I have lived before, I expect it to have changed. But on a couple of occasions, it hasn’t. Which, oddly, is even worse. You would think that going back to a place which remains the same would be like dipping your toes into a warm pool of nostalgia. Oh! Here is the same wallpaper that I stared at while I sat at this same kitchen table and ate buttery cinnamon toast from the same…

  • Family - Marriage

    Shirts, Blankets, and Bedsheets

    March 4, 2023 - By 

    As the designated Household Manager, I am the person in charge of the laundry. Which, for the record, is NEVER ENDING. I’m usually washing a load of something every day, because between four people, towels, sheets, blankets, dish cloths, and miscellanea, there is always something that needs cleaned. Today, I chose to wash my husband’s white t-shirts, throw blankets on the couch, and our bedsheets. These are the only three things I washed this day. Sitting on the couch this evening, watching one of our favorite shows, I pointed out how the throw blankets we were snuggling under were so…

  • Uncategorized

    The Art of Doing things You’ll Never Master

    February 20, 2023 - By 

    There is a saying – you know the one – that goes, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” I think we tend to view this as a negative thing. If we start something, we should finish it. We should master it. We should be the very best that can ever be. Which leads to… if we don’t think we can master a thing, why even try? So we don’t try. And we never experience the joy of trying. That’s not to say there’s something wrong with mastering a skill. Of course there’s not. And, frankly, some skills require mastery,…

  • Family

    The Golden Hour

    February 15, 2023 - By 

    I’ve always believed that if our days have a magic moment, it’s while they are awash with a waterfall of late-afternoon sunshine. When the sun is low, but still bright. When shadows play, but haven’t yet drawn into their long sunset shapes. Something about that light makes anything possible. There is a whole universe of possibilities in the drizzle of sunlight over my floorboards. Every neighborhood and city street is at its peak, with the dazzling flair of the sun’s Midas touch. Photographers, too, know this hour and use its magic to capture our smiling faces, dappled out of their…

  • Uncategorized

    Sending Faxes like it’s 2010

    February 3, 2023 - By 

    I can be a bit of a technology hoarder. My office closet houses two filing boxes full of miscellaneous cords. I own a VCR. Although, to be fair, I recently purchased the VCR at a thrift store, so that I could watch a couple of childhood home videos and transcribe them to a digital format. But, still, I own a VCR. And we won’t get into the flash drives and external HDD full of bits and pieces – old photos, creative writing, college schoolwork, miscellanea. They, at least, do not take up much room. I’m also pretty sure I have…

  • Uncategorized

    You Can’t Take it With You… but also Some People are A-holes

    January 30, 2023 - By 

    One year ago, the 30th of January was a Saturday. Our oldest son had a basketball game, so Chris and I and the boys loaded up into his truck and started on our way. As we drove past our detached shop building (how we refer to the metal building that serves as a garage, workshop, and multi-purpose space), we noticed our wheelbarrow, lying tipped-over in the grass outside. The wheelbarrow that is usually stored inside our shop. We pulled up the driveway, opened the shop door, and peered inside. We had been robbed. Of course we did all the usual…