Post Easter Post

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, having somehow escaped the drama and bad memories with which  many of the other major holidays are fraught  for me. Although the bunny is now known to be Mom and Dad by both kids, we continue the traditions that we started when they were little. We fill a basket … Continue reading Post Easter Post

Write it down, make it happen

Okay, it's a book (not mine!) title. It occurred to me to apply the philosophy of: "If you build it, they will come" espoused by James Earl Jones and put into force by Kevin Costner in the Field of Dreams movie which coincidently (?!) contained a female lead character named "Karen" (not sure how she … Continue reading Write it down, make it happen

Pause and reflect

Spring has sprung me--and as they say, better late than never. My cocoon of too much food and too little exercise has cracked open. What I've learned this winter is this: the more I eat, the more I want to eat, and the less I exercise, the less I want to exercise. My wake up … Continue reading Pause and reflect

Famous (Dave’s) Birthday Girl

I always wonder how best to celebrate my kids' birthdays. Every year there is some sort of friends' party and then a family celebration to cap things off on the actual day of birth. This year, my daughter turned twelve: the last bastion of childhood, the threshold of teenhood. The friends' party was at Get … Continue reading Famous (Dave’s) Birthday Girl

Peeps update: week 2

So, week two with the peeps and life is good. Losses have been  minimal (despite the frigid temperatures after the balmy ones and a malfunctioning heat lamp). In about 5 months, our egg production should be through the roof. We're gathering about 30 (or more!) eggs per day now and the peeps are eating and … Continue reading Peeps update: week 2

The Hayloft

We recently returned to the Hayloft Restaurant in Moody, Maine after a 10 year (give or take) break. We used to frequent this restaurant with the kids but after getting a bad salad (not to be confused with the "big salad" of Seinfeld's world), we stopped going. Every summer when my son was small he would … Continue reading The Hayloft

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Have you noticed that there has been a span of several weeks with no G-rated (or PG, for that matter) choices for movies? After a long hiatus, enter (finally!) something that my daughter and I both wanted to see: the Wimpy Kid sequel, based on the book by Jeff Kinney, which I thought I'd bought … Continue reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Expanding the flock~(revised)

...is proving to be no easy task this spring. My husband anxiously anticipated the arrival of the chick catalogues, nad contacted some new (to us) hatcheries for their catalogues, and planned to get some chicks from New Mexico in March and from Texas in June. At the end of February they wouldn't accept the March … Continue reading Expanding the flock~(revised)

The ides of March~Grieving my dead relatives part 5

John I always liked the sound of "The Ides of March" from when I'd first come upon the phrase in my reading of Shakespeare. In 1998, it took on a new meaning: the day that my father died. He was on hospice so his death was no surprise. My mother's (who had died 2 years … Continue reading The ides of March~Grieving my dead relatives part 5

Pantry Project

Sauteed chicken cutlets, roasted fingerlings and baby carrots Cooking from what's on hand isn't as hard as I thought it might be. This time, I had the presence of mind to raid the freezer the night before, so that the meat would have time to thaw before I was going to cook it. Thawing in … Continue reading Pantry Project