• 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…

  • Throwback

    The Background Details

    January 23, 2023 - By 

    Sometimes the best parts of old photos are the stories they hide in the details. The stories that only the photographer and the photographed might remember. Take, for instance, this photo of me at our kitchen table, circa 1985 or 1986. I can still feel the padded vinyl of that checkered tablecloth. The doll? Her name was Polly and she was my absolute favorite. I lost her once in a grocery store and was rather inconsolable, until some nice lady found her and turned her into the manager. That cat ledge! What a thing that I took for granted as…

  • Uncategorized

    Staying Afloat

    January 11, 2023 - By 

    In college, I went through a phase. We’ll call this my Californian-college-girl phase. I was a blonde, tan, busty, sorority-girl lifeguard in California. I fit a stereotype, despite the fact that only one year prior I was an acid-washed jeans, tie-dye-wearing, brunette, American transplant living in France and studying the intricacies of the newly-minted European Union along with sixteenth century French literature. What can I say… your twenties is about finding yourself. Anyway, the point of this story is that I was a lifeguard for many years. I’ve always loved swimming, and since lifeguarding was a summer job, when school…

  • Family

    Grateful for what I have Gained

    November 16, 2022 - By 

    November is the month of Thanksgiving. Although I truly believe that gratitude should be practiced year-round, I like to practice it especially in November. November 16th also happens to be a significant day for me. It’s the day I re-discovered my potential. My health and fitness was – for many years- something I took for granted. I was a swimmer and a gymnast, a tree-climber and an outdoor adventurer, but I wasn’t what you would call “sporty.” I never liked the gym. I never liked running or rowing or competitive anything. But I stayed active in work and in life.…

  • Fun - Marriage

    The Gift that Keeps on Giving

    November 12, 2022 - By 

    For Mother’s Day this past May, the Husband gifted me a subscription to a “flower of the month” club. It works pretty much as you would expect – each month I receive a box. Packed inside is a flowerpot. At first it looks just like a pot of dirt, but with time and water the bulbs that are planted underneath emerge, revealing themselves and gracing our table with pretty blooms. The bulbs are chosen according to seasonality – Daffodils in April, for example – although I can’t easily identify them all because the packing slip does not provide any information…

  • Family - Fun - Parenting

    Yes Day!

    July 31, 2022 - By 

    Ever since I let the boys watch that Jennifer Garner movie, Yes Day, the boys have been begging to have one of their own. For the uninitiated, a “Yes Day” is when you pick one specific day that the parents can’t say no to any request the kids have. Now, there are some ground rules. There is a monetary budget. There are no requests to travel outside of the city (or a set radius of your choosing). And no requests that impact the future (for example, they can’t ask for a puppy). We laid the ground rules (most of which…