All in an instant

I was only feeding myself last Friday night, so I decided to make a pizza for one from a piece of Naan and some leftover tomato sauce and mozzarella in the fridge. I turned the oven on to preheat and then went back to working on my computer.

I heard some clanking, metallic noises behind me but at first, I didn’t pay any attention, because it wasn’t unusual for my oven to sound like that when it preheats. My husband called and I was talking to him when I noticed the clanging was getting more persistent. Keep reading

An important anniversary 👵

My mother was here from 3.13.40 to 2.29.96.

[This photo of us was taken on my 26th birthday]

This Leap Day is an important anniversary for me because the day itself, being rare, is causing me to pause and reflect. I am older than she ever got to be. I feel like it’s so important to make these years really meaningful, since I am blessed to have them, when she (not to mention so many others) was not. Keep reading

Emily’s writing desk

When I watched Dickinson on Apple TV, I loved how she had her writing desk pushed up against the wall under the window.

Why didn’t I ever think of pushing a writing desk up against the wall under the window?

Why?

What an opportunity lost! I began scanning all the rooms in my house for walls that I might push a writing desk up against with windows I might push a writing desk under. I narrowed it down to three, but one of them was in my daughter’s room, and I don’t think she’d take kindly to my positioning one there.

But I might anyway! Her room has the best light at the time of day that I often write. Also, and maybe more importantly, the wall in her room has nothing in that spot (not true of the aforementioned other windows), thereby officially making it the path of least resistance. Keep reading

Primroses

I used to buy a primrose every year in January or February and then plant it in the yard in the spring.

I first began doing this the year my mother died to honor her memory, and then continued doing it after that because it brought me comfort.

After a while, I had quite a beautiful primrose garden going. When we moved to a new house, though, I suddenly had trouble finding primroses that looked good at the time that I wanted them, and slowly my practice died off.

This year, I was just running into Hannaford to grab some groceries quick and there they were. All those pretty little primrose faces looking up at me, waiting for me. A beautiful yellow one came home with me. Keep reading

My One Word 2020: Definition

I’ve been thinking about choosing #Faith as My One Word for many years now.

This idea occurred to me when I was writing one of my books. My maternal grandmother had triplet sisters that, sadly, didn’t survive infancy. They were so tiny that they put them into bureau drawers to sleep instead of cribs (according to my memory of family lore, which may or may not be fully accurate).

Their names were Faith, Hope, and Charity.

I thought  it would be great to honor them by choosing one (and maybe more in the future) of their names as My One Word to focus on for the year.

This is the year.

I didn’t get the engraved “faith” stone for this particular purpose; I already I had it. It’s flanked by an Amethyst and a Smoky Quartz that I love. I gave it a place of honor, a place where I will see it frequently throughout the day. Keep reading

Cicely’s Tree

Many years ago, when my son was starting kindergarten, we lived far enough away from school that he needed to ride the bus to get there. My husband and I took turns walking with him to and from the bus stop.

While I drank coffee and watched Anthony, my husband struck up a friendship with the West Indian woman whose house was on the corner.

Her name was Cecily. She was often out working in her beautiful garden, and my husband was also a gardener, so they had this in common. They often traded plants back and forth (e.g. dug things up and gave them to each other).

Cicely had a giant, mature Japanese Maple tree that covered a third of her corner lot. Keep reading