Ellen is always offering me some of her northern Illinois snow. She knows full well that, after part of my childhood in rural New Hampshire, and my early adult life in Chicago, this is a brilliant wisecrack and an offer which I’ll never take. Except… maybe I will. Our weather lately has been so strange; […]

Well, here’s a photo from ten years ago, right about now: That small, red-faced fellow was, well, small and red-faced, and a few hours old. And his dad could finally hold him too. There were these massive thunderstorms promised and flood warnings and all kinds of things, and my mother made it in a few […]

This has been kind of one of those mornings. The manchild didn’t want to get out of bed, which means I got to start right out nagging, before I even had the coffee started, and the whole morning process was behind schedule and time felt pinched and everything. I felt like I was wading through […]

I’ve answered a few questions in various places over the past several months about Andean spinning, which is a subject very near and dear to my heart. I first learned to spin in the Peruvian community to which my family moved when my sister and I were little, and spinning in the Andean way is […]

I met the fabulous Beth at SOAR 2007, where she’d have you believe she wasn’t constantly a focus of attention — even though the truth is everyone would keep drifting off mid-conversation, staring at her fabulous selection of shawls, fortunately brought back quickly by Beth’s wit and charm. Among other great things about her, Beth […]

It’s hard to know where to begin, so I’ll dive right in. Something arrived in the mail last month, packed in an Interweave envelope and bent in half (argh!) in my mailbox. I knew right away what it had to be and I was torn between opening it on the spot in the chill at […]

This moment, right now? It’s a momentous one indeed. I’m sitting at my desk in my office with a full cup of coffee, and it’s quiet. So quiet that I think if I just sit here and listen for a while, I’ll be able to hear myself think. The holiday hubbub has ceased (though cleanup […]

Thank you so much for the blocking wires! They made it safely to the USA quite some time ago, but actually getting them into my hands was a little more involved. One day I went to my mailbox and among other things, there was a note saying “Sorry we missed you,” and stating that delivery […]

I seem to be holding fairly steady at about a week behind, at this point. That’s not so bad; it could be far worse. The thing is, I could be caught up, except for the week’s worth of wrinkles encountered. I’m presently livid beyond belief at PayPal MultiOrder Shipping, which I won’t use for large […]

It has been brought to my attention that for all intents and purposes, it would seem I was slain by my cold. This is not the case. I live! But man oh man, has it been a week. I left for SOAR knowing I’d come back with about a month worth of work to get […]