In September, we drove to Tennessee where we joined our son and his family for camping at Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains. We hadn’t done much camping in recent years, but we had past experiences to draw on. My husband has fond memories of backpacking trips in the Rockies. We had both experienced…
The weather in New England and the Mid Atlantic States joined the Midwest in below freezing temperatures this week. Holiday decorations are springing up all over town. And advertisements for great holiday gifts are everywhere. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. (cue the choir!) (Triumphant music swells) And today, just in time for…
Do you remember the angst leading up to the year 2000? Not only was it the turning of a century, but it was also the dawn of a new millennium. While the transition received a cute nickname — Y2K — some people and groups thought the world would end. It wasn’t clear if computers, and…
family values / happiness / Learning / literacy / publishing
We are 2 weeks from Thanksgiving and our world is totally upside down – ~ Election Day has come and gone with no President Elect to show for it. ~Halloween: kids were told…
What a time! With Halloween this weekend, and followed by Election Day… It’s hard to know which is scarier. Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31st, has predictable features — skeletons, monsters, masks, and treats (similarities seemingly shared with political office holders). The Halloween tradition started with Samhain, an ancient Celtic fire festival at the…
The transition to all meetings by video chat has had one huge silver lining: cutting out travel time necessitated for gathering. Yes, there is screen fatigue, and loss of personal connection and dearth of touch, a fundamental human need, but meeting people in far away places no longer entails an arduous journey. I am lucky enough to have…
“…Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life….!” Donald J. Trump, Oct.5, 2020 I agree with President Trump. I thought that would get your attention. I agree with this sentence — “Don’t be afraid of COVID.” The plain and simple truth is that people who follow the CDC guidance…
With some schools open and everyone walking on edge trying to navigate these rough pandemic waters, it is such a joy to see children playing together again. Walking the tight rope between preventing transmission of COVID, preventing social isolation, stunted development of social skills and loneliness, schools are cautiously open, most with a hybrid between…
Light and dark. Good and evil. Truth and lies. If sunrise, then sunset. Breathe in, breathe out. If birth, then death. Despite expectations about life, we fool ourselves if we believe in permanence. In nature, if something begins, eventually it ends. Just look at a picture of yourself as a 10-year-old to see how much…
Hot off the press! Nothing beats the excitement of seeing UPS unload boxes of my new book Walk Away West! The driver was nice enough to congratulate me when I told him what was in the boxes. #newbestfriend. What joy it was to cut them open and feel the book in my hands. In these…
