Filter posts by category

We Give Our Dogs This Respect. Why Not Our Kids?

It’s a good thing I get up early, because one of the walkers (with dogs) on our road passes by around 6:30 am. I make sure my dogs are inside and the dog door is closed, so that this woman can walk by in relative peace. Relative peace, I say, because Kiera and Graidy both seem to find it constitutionally necessary to get off at least a few barks each from inside the house.

As the day unfolds, a parade … Read More

Best Friends

Cait and I are making a batch of lentil soup together. She asks her signature question, “Mom, what should we talk about?”

Concentrating on chopping veggies, I answer, “I don’t know, Sweetie. What do you want to talk about?”

Cait loves hearing about my past, so I’m not surprised by her request.

“How about if you tell me again how you met Ceres?”

Ceres is my best friend.

“Okay,” I say, handing her the lentils to pick through and wash. … Read More

If You Build It, They Will Come

If you’ve been a regular reader, you’re probably almost as familiar with our pond as we are; it’s in nearly every outdoor shot. If you’re not, here are a few pics through the seasons.

.pondwinter.jpgpondspring.jpg

pondsummer.jpg pondfall.jpg

What you may not have guessed is that we built it. The year before Cait was born, we reclaimed it from a mosquito infested swamp. For the first year, there was no life in or around the pond; all was still. In the second year, … Read More

Most Current List Of All Recalled Dog Food

Go to List of all recalled dog food.

Menu Foods, Inc., expanded its recall Tuesday, April 10, to cat food not previously subject to the recall. The varieties of cat food in the United States and Canada now being recalled are included in the spreadsheet in the above link.

If your brand is on the list, make sure to check the code on the spreadsheet against the code on your can. If they match, stop feeding that food immediately and … Read More

How Best to Show Love for Wild Animals? Keep Your Distance.

romeowolf.jpg I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but this kind of thing drives me nuts. Recently, there was an article in the Anchorage Daily News about a wolf named Romeo who had become a regular visitor to the lake in town. As often happens when people have a love for wild animals, they want to get close. They want to have their own personal experience. But the ways in which people do this can spell trouble for themselves and … Read More

Argue for Your Limitations and They’re Yours

As I was listening to a visiting friend talk about her life over lunch, I was reminded yet again of how she’s painted herself into a comfy corner of “I can’t.”

I’ve known this friend for 25 years. What attracted me to her originally was her adventurous spirit. When she wasn’t home hobnobbing with famous authors, international journalists, and heads of state, she was traveling the world. She was politically active and spiritually seeking. In other words, she was full … Read More

Lessons Learned from Solitaire

It’s the middle of the night. I’m tending to a sick child. Cait’s sleeping peacefully at the moment. I know that won’t be the case for long. So I do what I always do when it’s the wee hours and I know I won’t be getting much sleep. I play solitaire.

It’s a game that suits me on so many levels.

My dad taught me how to play long before there were such things as home computers, never mind computer … Read More

Scroll to Top