Once again, I will start by saying I didn’t always love Math. I struggled with it, and couldn’t figure out how I would ever need it in a life of creative pursuit. Then I had children. Thos...
Tao Tuesday – in participation with the Tao Te Ching Daily site by Amy Putkonen. Chapter 79 Failure is an opportunity. If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blam...
Tao Tuesdays: Thanks to Amy Putkonen of Tao Ta Ching Daily. Chapter 78 Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it....
What would parenting be like if we used the Rules of Improvisation in our interactions with our kids? I’m not suggesting this entirely. I’m just wondering. Right now, I’m read...
I like Aha Moments. I’m an Aha Moment Junkie. I have them all the time, and revel in the ways my mind can become excited all over again about a new idea. And then another one, and another one. I...
Let me preface by saying that after writing today’s reflection, I feel raw because of how much I have to learn. This motherhood thing is ever changing, constant learning, every day more to under...
It seems as if the geese could bump into each other in this mist, each screeching into the void sounding out to the others calling the way forward southward, onward toward the next season, the next wa...
Tao Te Ching – Chapter 74 – with Reflection If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you aren’t afraid of dying, there is nothing you ca...
Painted by Bean three years ago, when he was Four. It should have dawned on me sooner that this may be his thing. As I was hanging the boys jeans up to dry yesterday, I noticed that on every one ...
There may actually be too many things percolating in my head this morning, for any of them to come together into a cohesive thought, but I’m going to try. I am happy to announce that I do not th...
When Scott and I were first married, and setting up our home together, I was unpacking boxes of files to put into the office, and came across an envelope full of sentences he’d had his boys writ...
Yesterday, on the way to music lessons, there was a lively conversation in the car between my six-year old and my nine-year old about whether the word muzzle and snout could be used interchange...
Recently, I’ve gotten back to a daily writing of poetry in the early morning. I have also been going through another one of Julia Cameron’s writing challenge books, “Walking in this ...
Yesterday, we got our first batch of chicks for this year. Scott brought one in to sit on Bean’s shoulder, with the resulting overload of cute! And our goat, Madrone, our very first goat –...
Did I ever show you this handmade gift from Benjamin this year? Talk about a gift that went straight to my heart. I have never cried more over a present in my life. That he knew my deepest desire, and...
These photos are all from the 2009 show, Strengthen Me with Raisins. Back in 2007, I performed my very first Poetry Show as part of the Rogue Festival in Fresno, CA. I was 39 years old, and I floated ...
Have I mentioned that Ben has been building Guitars lately? Paper, tape, cardboard, Lego’s, duct-tape, wood. You name it....
For the last week, I’ve been mulling over the reckless idea of a Singleness of Purpose. It floors me, the thought. I’ve been wondering about it almost nonstop – as if the quest for a...
It has been a while since I wrote anything here. I have to admit I’ve been a little discouraged and down, perhaps in a bit of a depression for the last couple of weeks. Despite all my best inten...
We have been Home Schooling for a bit now, and there have been good days and struggling days. My Ben is so much like me that we can butt heads. We are learning how to work together for mutual benefit....
Yesterday, I shared this update on my personal Facebook page: I have a problem. I am not a civilized reader. I read like a glutton or a hoodlum – gobbling what I can from as many books as I can ...
This weekend, in fairly typical fashion, Ben created about a bazillion new paper-craft projects. His imagination never stops. I spoke to Bean about doing a project with him every day when he gets home...
Normally, the boys get to sleep in on weekends. But today, we are meeting family for breakfast out at Patty’s Diner in Gold Hill, for the best Chicken Fried Steaks in the world. It is important ...
This is not a cookie cutter situation, where we can prescribe a common solution to a standard situation. This is Ben and this is me, and when Bean comes into the mix next year, it will be even more ex...
It’s a bit of a stretch, yes? I mean, I know that I’ve heard Thurston Howell, III (of Gilligan’s Island fame, for those too young to remember) speak of his ancestors, but this is a b...