Street festivals, carnivals, outdoor free concerts, parades, beaches, races… summer draws a crowd. Big crowds. We put on our sunglasses then head over to the nearest weekend attraction. We circle the parking area, then wait for the shuttle bus. Then we wait in line for food/drinks/games. Then we are generally jostled in a crowd, and …
How I got "here"
Summer Classics: Road Trip
It’s Saturday morning and the air is a perfect 75 degrees with a light breeze and puffy clouds. No social commitments on the calendar, no pressing chores…what to do? The day is a blank slate, and I feel a tug to get out of the house. The feeling is wanderlust, so we gas up the …
Summer Classics: Trash vs. Treasure
Another street sale is in the books. Yard sales, garage sales and street sales are a true summer classic. We have all set up first apartments with garage sale finds, or found some treasure we’re sure will be a hit on the Antiques Road Show. This year, we learned from a customer, whose mother was …
Encore: 19 Items Per Minute, or, How bagging groceries instructs my life
This post was originally published in April 2011, and, according to my WordPress statistics, is my #2 post of all time. 19 Items Per Minute is about my seven years working at a local grocery store chain. It was the only job I had all through high school and college (with the exception of a …
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Happy Birthday, America
We the people. By the people. For the people. ALL of the people. The ones who run into battle, burning buildings, and disasters. And the ones who hold the hands and do the healing afterward. The people who stood up in public squares, peacefully marched, and sat down at lunch counters and on buses. The …
Patience and Publication
A year ago this month, my article about Betty Murphy sewing quilts for a unique place on Raquette Lake was published in the Suburban News. The unique place, St. William’s on Long Point, is both an historic site and a soul-replenishing respite nearly in the center of Adirondack Park. The editor encouraged me to pitch …
Father knows best…
As I wrote about lessons from Mom on Mother’s Day, it’s only obvious that I should share the same wisdom from Dad on Father’s Day. Practical advice or true wisdom? You might have rolled your eyes the first hundred times you heard some of these, but now you find yourself saying the same things to …
Decisions, Decisions
Instead of writing, today I spent the afternoon with a friend. She is at a crossroads and ready to make the decision to change her life. Over iced tea and California rolls, we discussed what it feels like when your job has become a toxic pool; where you can barely envision that a way out …