HomeLife
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. - Annie Dillard
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Grill. Master.
I should start with a confession. A Grill Master, I am not. A Grill Student? Eh, maybe. I mean, yes. I AM a student of the grill. Now. That’s what I am now. Two weeks ago I was a forty-six year old woman who had never grilled anything in her life. Unless you call cooking over a campfire that someone had placed a grill type grate over and even then I cannot recall if I ever actually have done that but it sounds like something I might have done while camping. Sometime. But two weeks ago all that changed. I was gifted a used grill and I was kind of…
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five finds friday. (homemade board games, babies & Bergen)
Friday’s here. It always comes quickly. Even when it feels like I’ve not been busy and even when it feels as if I am moving at breakneck speed. I’m somewhere in between right now. Last week I was sitting on a dock staring at a lovely and calm lake. But that’s not my normal. Honestly, nothing feels normal. And hasn’t for a long time. Distracted and without direction has been my M.O. lately I think. Although, if I analyze my time usage and productivity, that’s not exactly accurate. But – something is off, that’s for certain. funny Last night Piper and Otto and my faux son Matthew stole an idea…
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downhill: a commentary on this thing called aging.
My daughter texted me, asking if my upcoming birthday next month was the one where I would turn fifty. F I F T Y. My daughter thinks I am turning F I F T Y years old. FIVE. ZERO. I need a bigger font. Simple pseudo shouting will not cut it. I’m not turning fifty. Not next month. Not next year. But soon. SOON, you guys. SOON. Soon I will be HALF OF A CENTURY old. No, I will not lower my voice. This is too much. I cannot accept this. If I cursed more, I’d curse now. This is a cursing age. Fifty. We all know what fifty year…
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is this summer?
It’s hard to know exactly what season we’re in right now. It kind of feels like summer – because we wrapped up school and we’re staying up late and we’re sleeping in. But also, the last two months we were kind of doing that anyway, just while simultaneously sort of finishing school. And the weather hasn’t felt really summer-ish, although, let me add how grateful I am for that. I am not friends with heat and humidity and seeing it delay in its arrival makes me relieved. Also – for the past four years, on this exact week we are usually trotting and loping all through the Pike National Forest…
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five finds friday (otto’s birthday, boots I can’t wear & chili)
Today my youngest son turns ELEVEN. I’m almost entirely out of the “kids eat free” stage of parenting. In fact, I’d say I’m pretty heavily into the “kids eat expensively” stage of parenting. (Maybe that’s EVERY stage of parenting.) Anyway, he’s an easy fella to celebrate and I’m looking forward to celebrating his Harry Potter birthday. (That’s what the kids are calling it, since that fictional fellow’s 11th birthday is when all of his adventures began.) Let’s hope Otto doesn’t attend a secret wizarding school and run into a lot of problems that keep his life almost constantly at risk. funny The other day I walked into the living room.…
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back to the grind . . .
Although I never stopped working during the two months of stay at home orders, work sure looked different. Life sure looked different. And it’s not as if it’s back to normal at all yet, that’s certainly true. But this week, where I live, restaurants are opening and businesses are turning their closed signs to open and I am getting texts from clients and setting up meetings. I have to admit, it feels weird. The smallest amount of human interaction makes me tired. No way could I jump into the former pace of stacking (gasp!) three meetings back to back. Who have I become? I’ve had hints all along that I…
Keep Reading . . .
The Deal With Me & Low Cost Flights
and there’s a video
just recounting a day . . .
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Five Finds Friday (a new look, a story that stands the test of time, a t-shirt London designed)
It looks a little different around here – right? It might take a little getting used to but hopefully we’ll all be able to navigate it just fine. Actually, the real hope is that it will be better. Only time will tell. But I’m kind of proud of myself. Because I am NOT a technologically savvy person even though I run a business that is primarily online. The backend of websites is always a scary place to me. But, through both desperation and just plain old desire to get this accomplished, I gave it my best go. And so, without further chitter chatter – let’s get on to this Friday…
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story: listen for it
We’re all telling the same story – aren’t we? Isn’t it the only one that matters? The story of ourselves, sure. The particulars might belong to us. The shading and the scent, the hue and the timing. But it’s never been just our story. It is all of history’s story – all of humanity. The ones before. The ones right now. The ones after. It’s the same story that happened to me more than ten years ago in the mountains of North Carolina in a week long writing class. I was relatively new at my mothering gig – four kids, three under the age of four. My first time leaving…
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five finds friday (fried dough, there is no fashion to be found, the woods are still magical)
But for real – is it actually Friday again? What did I even do this week? I can’t answer that. Although, obviously, I’m the only one who actually CAN answer that. Except I can’t. Not because I’m all about the secrets. It’s just because I don’t even know what I did this week. I don’t even know how Friday came so quickly. Yes. That is how it is going. funny Otto is funny. (Even when he really isn’t.) The way he celebrates finishing his math this year. The way he takes his role as uncle so seriously. The sandwiches he makes. Also, in the running for funny this week are…
Keep Reading . . .
books that work their own magic.
parenting: the slipping away
teens. parenting them.
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five finds friday (there’s beautiful bags and blast from the past soda and kind students)
Hello Friday, my old friend. I don’t want to talk about any words that start with Q or C. There were some gloriously pleasant spring days this week. I’m grateful we’re not jumping directly into scorching days. I think South Carolina often does that so I am thankful that there’s been a tiny delay in that this April. funny This week there was a meteor shower and the kids and I stayed outside lying on the trampoline in the dark for a long time, watching the night sky and joking around. London kept taking terrible photos with the flash and without the flash. The results were pretty amusing. fashionable I’ve…
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some tiny epiphanies via my quarantine education
Even if we didn’t try in the least, we’ve all learned something during this last month of stay at home, quarantine, shutdown and forced stillness. We’ve seen what was true about ourselves and what we love and what we miss. Even if we kept our eyes shut to this sort of self awareness, it was bound to leak in through some crevice or slit. I certainly learned a few things and here’s what some of them are in no regular order: My life is full without ANY outside influences. Literally, even when my calendar is an actual blank slate, it is not an actual blank slate. Parenting is a full…
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connections. relationships. education.
Education is about relationships. Charlotte Mason said this and I believe it. I believed it theoretically when I first read it, decades ago. I believed it experientially when I thought back over my own education, both formal and self-chosen. When what I learned well and best, thoroughly and ingrained as part of my psyche, was when I had a relationship with the material. That’s why Spanish for three years has vanished into the mist but words have stayed. Stories have stuck. And I believed it theoretically for my children when I said yes to homeschooling. And I believe it experientially as I watch my kids make their own connections, mourn…
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five finds friday (shimmery skirts & strawberries)
And another week down. funny First, look at this adorable tiny Lego washing machine Otto created. You know what I’m actually missing? An audience. Yeah, sure – I’ve got nearly half a dozen people here who could serve as my audience, but truth be told – they’re tired of my jokes. If they ever thought they were funny to begin with, honestly. Anyway. I need an audience. A new one, I guess. One who thinks I’m funny. Because, apparently, as my prodigy have informed me, if I have to keep reminding them that I am funny, then perhaps I am not funny after all. Also. My neighbor told me she…
