A Year of Firsts

Rediscovering magic in the everyday.

Writing

  • Knots

    I remember my dad packing a bunch of something in the back of a truck with me. I don’t know if it was one of the many times I moved, or a vacation, or some other occasion where I was moving a bunch of stuff from point A to point B. He would remind me Read more

  • Tangibles and Intangibles

    This week, my husband pointed out that our kousa dogwood had its first ever blossoms. Several years ago my mother-in-law, knowing that I really wanted one, came to visit and presented me with a long stick with a root ball that she had placed in her trunk. When I asked her what it was, she Read more

  • Such a friendly person

    The other day, I was grabbing a coffee with a mom friend of mine. I got into a conversation with the woman behind the counter about eyewear: contacts versus glasses, bifocals, the cost of all this, etc. The barista had a lot to say, and she had a method she had discovered for stretching her Read more

  • Collecting a Pile of Stuff

    I have meandered back and forth from my original intention here – which was to document the new things I do this year.  One thing I was interested in was planning some kind of event, and doing something fundraiser-y that wasn’t my job. For those who don’t know, I have been a non-profit fundraiser for Read more

  • Stories from Earth Day

    This week was the 55th Earth Day, and aside from some fun social media posts, and participating in my annual Town Wide Cleanup for the 3rd year in a row, I didn’t think too much about it.  The town clean up is an “on your own schedule” affair, with the town providing bags, rubber gloves, Read more

  • A Legacy of Just for Fun

    This morning I was getting River ready for the bus, doing a few items on my own to-do list, and mentioned I was thinking about what to write today. River knows I love writing, and that I do it all the time, and she is aware of the blog, but hasn’t read it.  Without missing Read more

  • Sinking Into The Sea

    Experiencing so many losses so close together has primed my brain for any messages about the afterlife. The other night, watching The White Lotus (I know…so profound) with my husband I heard the speech by a Buddhist monk, which is decidedly not in keeping with Buddhist writings, but is still pretty nice:  “When you’re born, Read more

  • Garden Walk

    Whenever my mother-in-law would come to visit us, she would hug the people, go to the bathroom, get a glass of water (which would still be half full when she left), and then, “How about a garden walk?” It was always in that order of priority. And always, without fail, at every visit, the plants Read more

  • Everything is Tuberculosis

    On Sunday I drove to Brookline with one of my dearest friends to attend the second stop on John Green’s book tour for his new book Everything is Tuberculosis. I also received a copy of the book (which was officially released 3.18.25) and finished reading the whole thing as of 6am Tuesday morning. Clocking in Read more

  • March and Survivance

    The month of March is kind of like a trick. It’s usually the moment when (in the Northern hemisphere anyways) everyone’s mind turns to spring, warmer weather, longer days, planting flowers, shedding coats, and generally more fun. But over the past 12 years, working with farmers, March felt very different.  March is when the time Read more