Sitting in the living room I rearranged over the weekend, enjoying the the new energy the room still has, facing the window with the blinds open, at my table in the corner with my moleskin and a felt-tipped pen. Felt-tipped pens are perfect for certain writing. They’re not fast, but my handwriting is lovely when … Read more
In a conversation on Zoom this morning, we chatted about staying on track with work and life. A system I guess-and-checked my way into is working really well for me right now and seemed to resonate with others, so I thought I’d share it with you. Take what resonates, leave the rest. First, I made … Read more
I wrote in May about sharing things you feel good about on social media—getting exercise, baking, creating art. (You can revisit that post here.) At the end of that post, I indicated I had a tangent from it that I would share tomorrow. I have a huge stash of drafts. Some just notes. Some partially … Read more
My great-aunt apparently drove later in her life than she should have. I never rode in a car with her but I remember overhearing grownups laughing that she was like Mr. Magoo, where she always turned out fine but there was a trail of chaos behind her. We’re not always aware of the effect we … Read more
During the summer of 2019, I got to visit my great-aunt, the twin sister of my late grandmother, my biggest fan as I grew into being a musician. Whenever I go back east, I make sure to visit Aunt Ellen. I learned on my last visit that she’s in an assisted living facility now—against her … Read more
8:30 a.m., January 1 I woke up around my usual time, the result of the relentless internal alarm clock. I used to sleep in whenever the alarm clock was blissfully unemployed, but years of waking at the same time seem to have taken their toll, and despite going to sleep after midnight, I was awake … Read more
It’s easy to see the bad parts of 2020. They’re on the news, they’re in articles, they’re in memes, they’re showing up in expected and unexpected places in our lives. For the overwhelming majority of us, there were good parts to 2020 as well, even if some of them are double-edged. For example, both of … Read more
Exciting news: we adopted two dogs! They were double-or-nothing, pair-bonded chihuahua mixes, weighing a total of 13 pounds. They’re the bulk of The Kid’s Christmas presents, and “excited” is a drastic understatement. They’re skittish, though (reasonably), and they’re just starting to tolerate him. Learning curve for everyone. We couldn’t agree on names for them (Scooby … Read more
Climbing Daddy and I have a tradition of going to a National Park or Monument or something similar for Thanksgiving; Tall Daddy and The Kid go to his family’s Thanksgiving. We decided we wouldn’t go this year. The parks have never been crowded on Thanksgiving Day, but we’d have to stay somewhere. Camping is always … Read more
Tomorrow (and every day, but for now—tomorrow), I invite you to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is a word that has lost meaning because it’s used so much nowadays, but we are not, on the whole, even mediocre at it. Yet. If you’re enjoying a meal full of your favorite foods tomorrow (or any day), instead of … Read more