June 2009

a little reading alchemy

June 29, 2009

A spectacular transformation took place in these parts last week. Mr. T became a reader. Oh, for months he’s been reading words and phrases that he spots around him. Gas station signs. Comic book titles. Billboards. But he didn’t want to read books. I’d check out new easy-to-read books at the library each time we [...]

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a post without an image

June 24, 2009

“Being self-employed will always make for a precarious life; these days, it is more uncertain than ever, especially since my tools of choice, written words, are coming to seem like accessories to images.” This line comes from a thoughtful essay by Pico Iyer called The Joy of Less.  It’s a wonderful essay on living simply, [...]

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how to homeschool

June 17, 2009

A few of you kind readers have been oh-so-gently urging me to provide a link here to the essay I wrote for Mothering last spring. I’ve finally done it. If you go to the “finally getting published” link in the right sidebar, you can click on the essay’s title and you’ll get a PDF file. [...]

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frog egg afternoon

June 10, 2009

I got the idea in my head that Mr. T and I needed to raise tadpoles this summer. It’s something we’ve never done before. I was already thinking about it when Lori of In Heywood’s Meadow wrote about her son finding frogs’ eggs and raising tadpoles. She recommended the book Pets In a Jar: Collecting [...]

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may: notes on anne lamott

June 3, 2009

Post #5 in my year-long project. random notes: I have to watch myself when I read Anne Lamott. I only have to read a little, and suddenly I’m trying to write like her. Trying to be funny. Littering my lines with qualifiers: the merest bit jealous, or a tad overzealous. Once the tidepool metaphors start showing up [...]

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