It’s that time of year again.  Every year I have the same intention to slow down and to spend and do less.  And I was doing really well this year.  I was pretty proud of myself.  Then I decided to start homeschooling the week of Thanksgiving.  Then I sprained my foot.  Then I realized that [...]

Lately, the wise words of Lao Tzu have been in my thoughts: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
After a very long soul-searching, and a very long path, we have decided to homeschool.  Our reasons for doing so are as complex as education itself.  I’m still having a hard time explaining why [...]

Six years ago, on November 9, 2004, I fell down the back steps of our house, on my way outside to hang diapers on the line.  This Wednesday afternoon, in a race out the door to make it to the library before it closed for the holiday, I fell down the same steps, in the [...]

Nearly a month ago, I excitedly posted about the yarn that I had spun. The lovely Erin over at exhale. return to center, whom I am honored to call my friend, saw my post and offered me some wool.  How on earth could I say no?!
Not long after our email exchange, this package arrived [...]

Overall, The Day of the Dead party turned out to be quite the celebration.  The weather was quite cool, but a welcome change from the usual heat.

Friends and family from far and wide, old and new, came together to celebrate life.

We ate.

We played.

We celebrated while my handmade papel picado banners flapped overhead.

Ever present, the ofrenda [...]

After all the time, and all the fuss that was made (or not made) over this painting, here it is, finished and in its frame.  I have so many thoughts and feelings tied up in this painting.  I started it in 2007, and had to stop working on it because I found out I was [...]

How fortunate I am to live ten minutes away from the beach.  We have recently started the after-dinner trip to the beach again.  This is something we used to enjoy when we were a family of three, what seems like so many years ago.
The beach is wonderful in the evening.  The crowds are thinning, the [...]

It’s amazing what tiny things you notice when you are only 35 inches tall.  The Girl found these hidden in our backyard under a much larger plant.  They were entirely invisible from my point of view.
“Look Mama, it’s magic!” she told me.
If only I could manage to stay in that place (literally and figuratively) all [...]

This was the scene in my dining room today.  While The Girl napped, I painted for the first time since I found out I was pregnant with her, over three years ago.  This is the painting I had to stop working on, and it has hung in my kitchen, unfinished, for three years.
I hardly remembered [...]

I’ve been off the computer lately.  Trying to be anyway.  I see what a huge timesuck it can be for me, so sometimes I try to take a step back from it when I see I am turning it on too many times a day.  It feels good.  So there’s been a lot of time [...]