I’ve been reading Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs mysteries for a dozen years, maybe longer. That’s not quite one book a year, which doesn’t make sense since I could swear I read a couple a year. But I’ll readily admit numbers aren’t my strong suite, so whatever the case, I’ve only two more titles until the …
Ask anyone in my family and they’ll tell you: there’s nothing I love better than a miniature. Doll houses, especially. The tiny plates and chairs. Little beds and pillows. Small parcels of foodstuffs. I had my vintage Little People and Pet Shop and Polly Pockets ready and waiting when grandchildren were still babes in arms. …
: to make or produce with care, skill, or ingenuity. Merriam-Webster The annual Grammy’s Christmas break sleepover has evolved over the past few years, but simply must include crafting, hot chocolate, the movie Elf, at least one argument over who will sleep where, more crafting, and pancakes for breakfast. (And did I mention crafting?) It …
When my friends and classmates were reading Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Bobbsey Twins in fifth grade, I turned up my nose at their lack of imagination. Pshaw! Why read about the same characters over and over? Now mind you, I often read the first book in a series–but after that, why bother? So yes, …
It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life. J.R.R. Tolkien My morning pour-over, the cat on my lap, and a peek of the sunrise over the field out back. Teaching my grandson how to play Scrabble, bending into a stretch at the YMCA, a stack of books waiting. That, my friends, is magic. …
Last month we had one of those Midwest snow storms that closes schools, interrupts travel, and keeps many of us shoveling every few hours to keep up with the drifts. It is only my second winter living alone, and let’s just say I’ve never been more happy to have the companionship of a little fur …
In many ways it’s been a typical holiday season: decadent food, festive gatherings, cozy nights. Friend Mary and I took in our town’s new Christkindl Market and it didn’t disappoint. Although it’s only a sliver of the size of Christkindl Market on Daley Plaza in Chicago, the folksy wares, yummy food, and–of course–gluhwein were spot …
[My] house is a very, very, very fine house–with two cats in the yard–life used to be so hard. Graham Nash Here’s a trope for you: an elderly woman–alone, of course–refuses to leave her home. She resists any number of pleas that it’s “for the best” to move somewhere safe, where she can get the …
Every spring Midwesterners swear that summer will never arrive. Then one night after weeks of cloudy, windy damp-cold we go to bed, and wake up the next morning to a balmy 70 degrees, a bright blue sky, and trees leafed out. It’s glorious. Last week I took out the trailer for the first time; Friend …
This past month my heart has been full. Which is a pretty audacious thing to say considering the past several years. Maybe it’s the darn Midwest optimist in me. But I doubt it. Try instead a whole lot of mindfulness, heaps of prayer, and a shit ton of healing. I know first hand how years …
This is my symphony 