Joy rises in me, like a summer’s morn...

December 31, 2012 • Christmas, family, kids, thinking out loud

My title is the second-to-last line of a poem called A Christmas Carol by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It is about the birth of Christ through the lens of Mary's experience. The mother in the story of Christmas. I had a Mother's day on this Christmas...

December 15, 2012

Three weeks since a post. I am feeling at a dead end as far as what to write on this here blog. I'm in the doldrums between the tropics on the great circumnavigation that is my life. I'm moving, but only very slowly, mostly just keeping from going backward....

November 30, 2012 • book reviews

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey Adult Fiction Adaptation of Jane Eyre You might like this book if you like novels set in Great Britain, have read Jane Eyre, or like quirky romances. My book group read this in November so I wanted to try...

November 25, 2012 • 2012, family, holidays, thanksgiving

This week was Thanksgiving and it was lovely. We invited friends, then invited some more, and prepared for a feast for 15 people. In the end, one family couldn't come so it was a table of 8, which was just perfect. Some of our very favorite folks in...

November 17, 2012

As I sit here, virtuously eating my grapefruit and carefully measured piece of good-for-me quiche for a tidy breakfast total of 4 Weight Watchers points, I am faced with the fact that I gained weight this week. 1 pound. Last week I lost 3. Both weeks...

November 12, 2012 • 2012, artistic pursuits, friends, I am a Mormon

Satisfaction flutters through my body as I sit here, quietly, in my own house. Yes, it is satisfaction, but admittedly, it is mixed with a certain amount of relief. Some big assignments came my way this spring, all involving a lot of effort, organization...

November 9, 2012 • 2012, cityschooling, creativity, reading, thinking out loud

I'm just copying and pasting this exactly from my knitblog. What a lovely evening I've had. Mmm. There is an old adage that says: You can't pour from an empty pitcher. No matter what you do in life, you have to replenish yourself sometimes. Covey...

November 5, 2012 • 2012, missions, Sam

My darling boy Sam, the one currently serving his mission in California, is smart, dedicated, funny and caring. He writes us great letters each week telling about the people he is serving, who he has taught and who has invited him to share his message...

November 2, 2012 • recipes, soups and stews, winter

I get recipes in my email box all the time and most of them go in the trash either because I already have a recipe for something similar, or I just don't want to overwhelm myself. These two, however, caught my eye due to their accessible yet exotic flavors...

November 2, 2012 • book reviews, brave new world, huxley

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley Genre: Adult Fiction, Dystopian, Futurist I listened to the audiobook on Playaway from my local library. You might like this book if you're a fan of dystopian literature-this one is deep in the ancestry of the genre....

November 1, 2012 • book reviews, Rae Carson

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson Genre: YA Fantasy You might like this book if you enjoy human stories of growing up and growing brave. It is set in places that might remind you of somewhere you've heard of, but are just different enough to...

October 31, 2012 • 2012, family, friends, halloween, holidays, superstorm Sandy

The kind of debris from Superstorm Sandyfound in our neighborhood: sticks and leaves. Evan is out Halloweening with friends, Eric is at the temple, and I am here, slowly putting things back together after we hooked our house up to the generator...

October 30, 2012

After days of watching her inexorable progress north from the tropics on the news, Sandy turned left and inched toward us all day yesterday, finally making landfall last evening. As usual, we've been spared the worst due to our location inland and on...

October 25, 2012 • 2012, autumn, family, my convertible, thinking out loud

Here is a desultory list of thoughts. I just feel like writing. The trees are GORGEOUS right now. I am loving driving around under the golden light of the changing leaves. The equinox has shifted the angle of the sun, so everything has taken on that...

October 24, 2012 • book reviews

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen Adapted by Nancy Butler and Sonny Liew Genre: Adult Romance You might like this book if you love Jane and want a whole new way to experience her work-in words AND pictures! I picked this up out of utter curiosity...

October 21, 2012 • book reviews

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead Genre: Fiction, Middle Grades You might like this book if you liked When You Reach Me, or you like stories that have a kind of moody unrest about them and are slightly mysterious and atmospheric. I loved Rebecca Stead's...

October 20, 2012 • weight watchers

Yesterday I went to my third Weight Watcher's meeting. It was on a different day, so there was a different leader. I will be back to this meeting. M was stupendously motivating, smart and fun. Her approach resonated with me more than the other gal, nice...

October 19, 2012 • book reviews, jk rowling

Yes, I am one of those. Without reading any of the reviews, I went and bought The Casual Vacancy on the first day it was out, from the giant stack at my local warehouse store. I love Rowling's writing in the Potter series. I was excited to see what...

October 15, 2012 • book reviews

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston Genre: Adult Fiction You might like this book if you are interested in post-civil war African-American culture in the American south. I love this book. I love the vernacular language, spelled out...

October 8, 2012

Miracles. What does that word mean to you? To me it is a need met in a way not even on my mind, even as a remote possibility, the very moment before it happens. By this definition, a miracle happened to me this week and I am overwhelmed with gratitude....

October 3, 2012

Today I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting. It was a small group of people made up of mostly women (there was only one man), and they were all very nice. It was run by a lovely woman named Debi with blonde hair and pink toenails (yes, you are picturing...

September 25, 2012

The weather is turning to the delightful coolness of a Maryland Autumn, and the blue skies have been a happy sight for most of the days this week. There are trees touched with brilliant colors and the portent of a pleasant new season fills me with anticipation...

September 19, 2012 • California, Eric, friends, gwen, king's canyon, travel

My friend Gwen invited us to come visit her family's cabin in California. I have a soft spot for family cabins in the woods, so I was pleased to be invited and many months ago, I made a plan with her to actually go. Labor Day weekend was the time and...

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