I drove through the mountains yesterday—a different route than my normal because of Helene’s damage, but still winding roads with rocky humps around me. There’s something about the mountains that brings me to life, waking my soul up in new ways. My ancestors lived there, so perhaps it’s my blood singing out to a place…
Helene is making her presence known in my neck of the woods. My house seems all set—power’s still on, I’m on high ground, and while I live surrounded by woods, there are only a few trees right near my house. But many friends in the area are out of power and have trees down. My…
I’ve been rewatching old seasons of The Great British Baking Show—when the weather turns each year, I just want to go back to a bunch of Brits overcome tempering chocolate in high temperatures. The tail end of summer is my busiest season and I think I return to this show annually for a bit of peace…
It was a big week in middle-grade book releases! So many people we know and love released books this week—there’s an abundance of riches out there. Our friend Carolyn Leiloglou’s second book in The Restorationists series released: Between Flowers and Bones. You don’t want to miss this amazing, art-infused adventure. And then, another friend Matt Mellema,…
This past weekend, I got to spend three days talking with families about books. There’s not much more fun than that in my book. So, while it was definitely exhausting to be out in the heat for three long days, the delight of seeing a kid’s eyes light up when he hears about a story…
I took a couple of hours this afternoon to just “be”—it’s been a busy (and hard) month, and I’m about to head into a weekend full of work and people and noise. It’s ridiculously hot outside, so I found a coffee shop and some of my favorite music and my Bible and a notebook and…
The temperature dropped this week. It’s a false fall—I know that—but if my Facebook memories are any indication, the same thing has happened about this time in past years. I know it’s a fleeting moment, but that didn’t stop me from brewing a cup of tea and lighting a fall candle this evening and reveling…
I had a sore shoulder, but I was shrugging it off until this week, when a doctor told me I might have strained my rotator cuff—suddenly we’re talking PT and preventing further injury and all those wise things…and I’m wondering if my shoulder hurt this much before she diagnosed it or if it’s gotten worse…
More than four inches of rain fell in my neighborhood today. That was light, actually, compared to other spots in the state. We’ve been watching the flash flood warnings come through all day and waiting out the rain. If you’ve been in the path of storms this week—whether physically or metaphorically—know that you’re in our…
August is typically my busiest month, and I usually reference the back half of July as “pre-August.” So I’m fully in the swing of the busy and trying to find the moments to breath in between all. the. things. that need to get done. Many of us are in prep for fall activities and events—may…
I discovered Rugby Sevens this afternoon and watched multiple games (they’re only 14 minutes long, so you can do that), and I still have no idea how Rugby works. But that’s one of the delights of the Olympics—discovering (and getting mildly obsessed with for less than 10 days) some sport you’ve never heard of before….
I’ve been watching a LOT of soccer the past few weeks, between the EuroCup and the Copa America. I’ve watched favored teams go home and underdogs make it further than expected. I’ve seen one of my favorites knock out early, and two other favorites make it to the final. The drama of international soccer is…
