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Has It Always Been So Peachy
From the mailbag: Samantha writes: You and Caitlin seem to have quite an amazing relationship. Has it always been so peachy? Don’t you ever lose your cool?
Dear Samantha: Like Kiera, my daughter came into my life to slap me upside the head and wake me up out of any sleep-walking through life I might have been inclined to do. From the very beginning, Cait has had a way of getting and holding my attention. Right from the emergency C-section, … Read More
A Race to the Finish


I’m true to my mostly Italian Heritage; I can find a way to add garlic to nearly any meal. I’ve long gone through all my garlic bulbs, and am down to the dregs of my minced garlic (above left). I’ve got another month and a half before my garlic plants (above right) are ready to pull. With the help of my brothers and sister cleaning me out (they fight over my garlic), it doesn’t look like I’m gonna make it. … Read More
Kid-Like
“Mom, why do my eyes squint when I eat something sour?”
“It’s because of a pucker reflex.”
“Do you want some (Sour Skittles)?”
“No thanks, I don’t really like candy.”
“Mom, you’re not very kid-like.”
“I wasn’t very kid-like when I was a kid.”
“I’m a little kid-like, and a little not.”
“Yeah.”
“The kids on my bus are very kid-like. They had a burping contest this morning.”
“Can any of them burp the alphabet?”
“One kid got to ‘k’.”… Read More
Faces in Nature
Cait and I are always looking at clouds. We like to see what shapes we can find in them. Here are some clouds we saw recently. Take a look and see if you find a shape that jumps out at you. Then scroll down to see what I saw.

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I saw what I call “phoenix rising.” It looked like a bird rising up out of the … Read More
Homemade Bread
There’s something about the smell of freshly baked bread filling the house. Having grown up in a 300 year old house with a beehive oven in the walk-in fireplace, us kids grew up baking our own bread. It’s a holiday tradition the grandkids now carry on.
With a fireplace like this, how could you not bake bread?!

Here’s a better look at the beehive oven hidden behind the hanging pot.

First, we’d get a roaring fire going in there. When … Read More
Au Naturel
We live in a town where “green” isn’t as much about being environmentally friendly, as it is about contests to see who’s lawn looks most like a perfectly manicured golf course.
We don’t play. Pesticides not only aren’t safe for our dogs, but they’d wash into our pond with far reaching consequences for the wildlife who depend on it. So our property has a very, well, um, natural look to it around this time of year.



You have to admit, … Read More
Grasping the Concept of a Reflection
“Mom,” Cait came running down stairs, “that robin is at it again! Even with the puppets in the window.”
We have a male robin who’s spending a great deal of his energy dive-bombing our glass door upstairs. Why? Because he sees his reflection in it, and perceives the image he sees to be that of a male intruder in his territory. He has been bashing himself into the door to get at this “aggressive intruder” for a few days. No … Read More










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