My mother used to joke that as far as holiday cards were concerned, "the Holidays" should mean not just Christmas, but also New Year's---and probably Martin Luther King Day, Valentine's Day, and Presidents' Day as well. In other words, if the holiday cards got sent out before the end of February, they shouldn't be considered … Continue reading The Holiday Card
Tag: Packing
Hill-Climbing, Hummingbirds, and Handguns
This evening, a particular piece of kid-art caught my eye. We have their notes and drawings tacked up all over the place---on the walls, on the fridge---but when something is always there you sometimes stop seeing it. That's the case with this piece , carefully dated 8-2-11 (almost exactly a year ago) with sticker-letters spelling … Continue reading Hill-Climbing, Hummingbirds, and Handguns
Budget Limbo: How LOW can we go?
Yesterday we made the six-hour drive back home from my parents' house, and we hope that Grandy and Boboo are recovering from the chaos of their week-long house-full of US! The kids immensely enjoyed their week, though of course it went by too quickly for them---sleeping in a tent in the backyard, roasting marshmallows for … Continue reading Budget Limbo: How LOW can we go?
Can’t Stand the Heatstroke: Getting Out of the Kitchen!
When my sister and I were kids, we spent a good chunk of every summer with our grandparents in Colorado. We both remember fondly the traditions and rituals of those summers---the daily swimming lessons at their pool, the picnic pool-lunches (fingers coated orange by Cheetohs, and purple tongues from grape soda), the yellow slip-n-slide on … Continue reading Can’t Stand the Heatstroke: Getting Out of the Kitchen!
A Pilgrimage of Perspective
Tricia Mitchell just posted a lovely blog about the castle in Heidelberg, Germany--accompanied by some of her own photos and memories of this castle over the years, and posing the question of whether her readers had memories to share. I wrote to her that although it's been almost three decades since I've been there (and although I … Continue reading A Pilgrimage of Perspective
How to Bury an Owl
Ah, trick question! Of course you wouldn't bury an owl, because the Migratory Bird Act makes it illegal in the United States to be in possession of even an owl feather, let alone the entire dead bird. (Or three.) So of course this post is entirely a work of fiction. (Cough, cough.) Last summer I … Continue reading How to Bury an Owl
Blogging Tips: Growing a Readership
Blogging isn't intended to be a numbers-game, but most of us would be lying if we said we didn't note our own numbers. (See "Confessions of a Statistics Slut" for proof of my own profligacy in this regard...) A blogging-friend asked the other day about growing a readership on WordPress, so here's what I have … Continue reading Blogging Tips: Growing a Readership
