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July Fourth – celebrating it all week long.
For the last 27 years I have spent July 4th at the farm in Virginia. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s my favorite holiday. (Well, I did miss one holiday gathering the summer I worked as a camp counselor at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park.) The party is traditionally the Saturday nearest to July…
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I just want to say ……
You guys are SO nice. You all read the post yesterday about me buying a house and you came out in FULL FORCE to say congratulations with such generous and heartfelt words. I felt celebrated and you guys were cheering me on and it was all so sincere that it just absolutely made my day! Thank you. Because I’ve…
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official sort of news. hint – it’s about a house.
Telling a story is like reaching into a granary full of wheat and drawing out a handful. There is always more to tell than can be told. ― Wendell Berry This is a story that deserves a back story (and a rabbit trail or two) and it would best be delivered on a front porch with a breeze and…
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Five Finds Friday (T-shirts for a cause and Paul and I should order the cake – right?)
Summer days were definitely more exciting when I wasn’t working so that I could embrace the sleeping in and the spontaneous fun that found us. Don’t get me wrong – summer is still a slower pace than the school schedule, but it’s not such an anything-goes sort of free for all that it sometimes has been in the past.…
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That Time We Visited a Castle: Glen Eyrie, Colorado Springs
Over three years ago when we were preparing to make our first Lost Valley adventure happen, I was researching places to stay and things to do in Colorado Springs. Glen Eyrie popped up in my searches. It’s stunning – right? I’d heard of it before actually – probably from my dad. Many years earlier Dad and…
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residual fall out from divorce and singleness: the bits I forget to talk about
There are many sides, facets, bits and pieces to the narrative of divorce. More layers and levels than the obvious and glaring parts. And there are plenty of aspects that I don’t talk about very often. At least not publicly. I’m not even entirely certain why. I’m an open book sort of person but some thoughts just don’t seem…
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Five Finds Friday (gigantic earrings and painted furniture)
I don’t want to know how many miles I put on my car just driving back and forth to stuff this week. (I’ve already complained about that here so I’ll try to reign it in today.) I was thinking about the passage of time though and how life with kids absolutely goes in seasons. You’ve got the…
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Little Time, Big Time, No Time
This week the girls are taking a biology camp. No, it wasn’t exactly their choice. But it’s a really wonderful opportunity for them to dissect things that need dissecting, to learn how to create lab reports and how to document their findings and to have a reminder of how to use a microscope accurately. These are areas that perhaps…
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East of Eden: A Book Review
Maybe it was November when I started it. I know I have finished a dozen other novels between then and now. I had to read about a hundred pages to really begin to get into this one. East of Eden. I am not exaggerating when I say this was a THICK novel. The longest I’ve read in…
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friday. but no number five.
I’m not sure I can even wrangle a Five Finds. Too much alliteration for me this week or something. It’s been a week of trying to get back into the swing of things. You’d think with the freedom of no school to teach that I’d be rolling in the free time and whipping out fifteen extra blog posts a…
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just the ramble, without knowing which weekend it is (or isn’t)
Y’all. I cannot get my act together. I don’t know what day of the week it is yet. Once you jump off the train tracks of routine it’s rather tricky to get back on that straight and narrow. I know I have stories to write and reviews to post and laundry to wash and bills to pay. I have…
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The Weekend Ramble (the Lost Valley Ranch abbreviated bit)
Whiplash. That’s what it feels like to transition from a week of perfection to a laundry list of stuff that stacked up while you were not checking in. Not to mention the actual laundry. But let’s not focus on the 37 texts and the 490 emails that I’ll need to eventually wade through. (Although I am prone to it,…
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The Weekend Ramble (birthdays & packing)
School is out! And just in the nick of time. We’ve got packing and birthday partying to do this week. Seriously, whenever I am on a break from teaching I still find my days to be full and at the end of the day I wonder, how would I have ever found time to teach on this day had…
