Barking up the right tree: book cover reveal It's taken years to get to this point. And that may be the best thing that could have happened. I fretted over it, stopped, started, and put it aside so many times. It just wasn't right. Wasn't ready. But that changed. I think in part because of the pandemic. We're walking more than ever. Seeing and noticing more than ever. The book is a short-story memoir of walking the dog and the simple act of slowing down, of noticing what's over there, around the corner, and up the street. A reminder that being in the moment, especially when we're outside, is t ..read more

I heard the train this morning, just like I hear it every morning. It rumbles through the woods at the end of the street at the same time my alarm sounds ... 5 o'clock sharp. Every day. Some days I wake before the alarm and hear the train, some days I hear it after the alarm. But they always sound within seconds of one another. This morning it made me think of New Year resolutions ... and how I've decided I'm not going to make any. No, instead, I'm going to make like the train and create a schedule. And stick to it. There's a schedule when the train leaves and when it arrives. No vacillating ..read more

If you've been thinking of writing a few stories about your life, it can be hard to know where to start. You can spend days, weeks, or even months wondering which story to tell. But of course that's just part of the problem. What really matters is that you start. The writing prompts in our new writing workbook, will help you get started and give you somewhere to go. It's also a refresher on some of the things that make good writing good. Things like trimming excess words, writing in a conversational tone, eliminating jargon, and being mindful of all those exclamation points(!). If you've consi ..read more

Waiting to bloom: why hanging in there matters and I'm fairly certain the only reason it survives is that it's a cactus that doesn't need a lot of water. And that's a good thing, because I forget to water it. All the time. Dry as a bone when I take it down off the shelf. So I water it and talk to it and earnestly try once again to remember not to let it go so long. When I first brought it home it was a tiny little starter plant. Just a few sprigs. But it was healthy. It blossomed and flowered ... more than once a year, I think. When it grew too large for its starter pot, I repotted it ... and ..read more

A Cool Twist on Sharing What You Know There are so many ways to share what you know. It's one of the reasons I love what I do. And with each project, I learn something new. Now, you may or may not be a fan of winter. I get it. Ice and shoveling after a snowstorm are my least favorite winter activities. But the morning after a snowstorm? It's just about as beautiful as it gets. The air is crisp; the sky is blue; rooftops, streets, and trees are frosted ... and there's a hush over the landscape. Today I want to share with you two infographics I created for winter activities ... because the best ..read more

Last summer we were walking in the neighborhood and overheard this exchange. The woman asking the question lives in the house on the corner lot. She was standing in her yard ... the one with the beautiful flower garden behind the white picket fence. I know, it sounds ridiculously quaint. It is. It's also the only white picket fence in the neighborhood. Anyway, she waved to her neighbor across the street with a garden spade in one hand, a flower pot in the other, and asked. "Would you like a red dahlia?" The neighbor from across the street said yes and the woman asking said, "I'll bring it by t ..read more

We never had a dog when I was growing up. There were a few cats, a snake even, but never a dog. I can't even recall knowing any one dog all that well, but there came a day when I wanted one. So I went looking for one, talked about about getting one, did my research on bringing a dog home, and finally got one. A basset hound. Why a basset hound? I think it was the ears. They have big, beautiful ears. Velvety ears. And they are solid dogs, well-tempered, and laid-back. Unfortunately, they're not great about walking in a straight line, moving along from here to there ... at least not Agatha. Nope ..read more

Choosing the Right Color ... and Word Three samples and one gallon later, I've finally decided on a color for the bedroom walls, Napery: a warm, pale yellow. It's an appropriate name, napery, though I did have to consult the dictionary to be sure. Napery are household linens, most often used to refer to table linens ... napkins and tablecloths. Finding the right color was difficult, but sorting through the names assigned to paint colors added an unexpected layer of indecision. Would you want to use paint in your living room the color of Windchill, or worse, Unraveled? Not me. I'd rather go wit ..read more

Barking up the right tree: book cover reveal It's taken years to get to this point. And that may be the best thing that could have happened. I fretted over it, stopped, started, and put it aside so many times. It just wasn't right. Wasn't ready. But that changed. I think in part because of the pandemic. We're walking more than ever. Seeing and noticing more than ever. The book is a short-story memoir of walking the dog and the simple act of slowing down, of noticing what's over there, around the corner, and up the street. A reminder that being in the moment, especially when we're outside, is t ..read more

Waiting to bloom: why hanging in there matters and I'm fairly certain the only reason it survives is that it's a cactus that doesn't need a lot of water. And that's a good thing, because I forget to water it. All the time. Dry as a bone when I take it down off the shelf. So I water it and talk to it and earnestly try once again to remember not to let it go so long. When I first brought it home it was a tiny little starter plant. Just a few sprigs. But it was healthy. It blossomed and flowered ... more than once a year, I think. When it grew too large for its starter pot, I repotted it ... and ..read more