Thankful
I love family. I love Bean. I love leaves and travel and the sea. I know this. You know this. As I sit in a dark, cold house looking out at a grey, blustery day, I am thankful for the bread in the oven, and the hands that have learned to make it. I am … Continue reading
Night of the Dead
Th older I get the more seasonal my life becomes. The perfect Florida orange in January, the first frosty morning requiring wool socks — it’s these transitions and moments that measure out my years. Witnessing the changing patterns of the planet and the movement of the light mark time in ways more profound than clocks … Continue reading
Independence.
As Scotland debates its independence, everyone and their mother is chiming in. A staggering array of eloquence, passion, and style whirl in amongst predictable bouts of petty, political jostling and stereotyping. I continue to debate my place here, too, though for unrelated related reasons. These Edinburgh days are numbered, and nostalgia and excitement vie for … Continue reading
In flux
Sometimes I really want the world to stop spinning. The simultaneous house hunting, job hunting, and wedding planning is both the best and worst decision I may have ever made. I am excited and thrilled to be striking out into our new life, building the future we want, together. Starting it right now, and for … Continue reading
Boy Meets Girl
My grandmother was big on old fashioned romance. When she was ill, I sent her this to cheer her up. Now I feel like telling you. Sometimes the world hands you the most unexpected gifts. So you jump in with both feet and see where it takes you. Once upon a time, a girl was … Continue reading
Pride & Conceit
Gryffindor. District 12. Team Jacob. Miranda. Carrie. Charlotte. People identify with pretend. They just do. And while I am as guilty as anyone of obsessive online quizzes, daydreamy adventures, and entirely delusional fantasies involving crossbows and laser sights while shopping for tinned beans, mine are, more often than not, a little old school. The world … Continue reading
Bon Voyages…
This weekend my grandmother left the world as we know it. And in her brilliantly stubborn way, she did so exactly like she would have chosen to do so: In her house, with her nails done and with all of her family laughing and telling stories in the kitchen. It went very quickly, too quickly … Continue reading
In the arena, I’m still young at heart
Between the ages of 9 and 14 I spent an inordinate amount of time following the American Women’s Gymnastics team. I would buy magazines with babysitting money, purely because they featured some “day-in-the-life” story of one of the Olympic hopefuls of my youth. I quietly obsessed about those girls the way other kids knew famous … Continue reading
Dandelions
Once, a friend an I were talking about flowers. “You’re a dandelion.” At the time I wasn’t sure how to take this remark. Dandelions are incessant, unwanted weeds which stain your clothes and plague Suburbanites the world over. On reflection, however, dandelions persevere in the most unlikely of situations. Their delicate, downy heads may seem … Continue reading
I Capture the Castle
This is one of those books I’ve always meant to read. Working in a children’s bookshop once upon a time, it was a go-to favourite for many of my colleagues. In the world of British kids lit it’s legendary, and I believe it is the sort of coming-of-age novel that’s as valuable and valid at … Continue reading
Que Sera Sara? 