The comments have been interesting lately. Take a look. Did you see the comments from DR, my oh-so-positive friend who inspired my attempts at a complaint-free Advent? He linked to some fascinating research published last week, which shows how one person’s happiness affects his or her family and friends. According to the article, “A happy friend [...]

In the crazy commercial times that can be Christmas, I love the symbolism of Advent. We’re Catholic, and in our tradition, Advent is a time of waiting and preparation. It’s a time of taking the light of the Advent candles into our hearts, and sharing that light with others. A couple of years ago, in [...]

Our old friends Dave and Janet and their twin girls stayed with us over Thanksgiving. Dave and Chris have been buddies since high school (and I’ve known them both that long too, which is sort of a scary thought.) Dave and Janet got married the month before we did, back when we were in our [...]

I’ve been collecting leaves, cones and seed pods. Every fall I’m struck once again by their abundance. Not only on hiking trails, but on city streets. Outside the library. At the playground. In parking lots. I pick them up and put them in my pockets. The squirrels and I are giddy. Like everyone else, I’m [...]

When H was six or seven (could it really have been nearly ten years ago?) he was obsessed with Pokemon. Obsessed. He studied the cards constantly, memorized them and then followed me around, asking questions like, “Did you know that Metapod has more hit points than Bulbasaur?” or “Did you know that Tentacruel’s ability is [...]

I have a problem. Whenever I take on something new, I want to be good at it right from the start. Can you relate? When I started writing, I wanted to be published right away. (Instead it took 17 years.)   When I started knitting, I wanted to knit long, lacy sweater coats like this, [...]