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![Buds on an aspen tree. Blurred background shows a snow-covered Wasatch Back and Heber Valley, with a gray sky.]()
Wending Through Brain Fog
This is not a post with answers. I wish I had them. Sometimes it feels like the internet works like this: Five quick fixes for brain fog! Just take this supplement and stand on your head twice daily and eat grapes two at a time and your brain will just start working properly like magic!…
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![A cabbage moth drinking nectar from a lavender flower on a stalk of lavender against a black background, and surrounded by other out-of-focus stalks of lavender.]()
A Writing Lesson from Photography on Surfacing Truth
When I make a photograph, it’s always a two-phase process. Phase one is making the image in the camera. This is usually a multi-step process, and may have quite a lot of steps depending on the type of photograph. If my subject is wildlife, I may plan a hike and travel to the location, or…
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![Diptych of the same gray and white cat. Left side: a close up with the whiskers in focus, taken from above. Right side: Cat is looking at the camera, mouth open in meow.]()
Remembering Min Lagniappe
As per Merriam-Webster, a lagniappe is “a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase.” This is how Min came into our lives. Jim had gotten a job offer in the Park City area, and I flew out to house hunt with a realtor that a friend had…
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![Gridded A6-size Midori MD notebook inside a grey leather cover, open to a blank page with two rainbow-colored rope bookmarks down the center. A TWSBI Vac Mini fountain pen filled with Colorverse purple ink, named "Delicious Sleep," sits on top of the left-hand page.]()
What I Learned (Or Relearned) About Writing in 2022
I’m always learning new things, and I’m starting to believe one of the best ways to keep using what I’ve learned is to write it all down. Otherwise I’ll forget, and life will have to re-hammer that lesson home again when I most need it. In order to avoid a re-hammering, I drafted this list…
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![A white bowl filled with steamed mussels, scallions, garlic, sausage, and herbs. It's sitting on a light wood surface.]()
Belgian-Style Moules Frites
I have always loved a big bowl of mussels since my first exposure to them as a teenager. I loved steamed clams as well, always dipped in a healthy (or less than healthy, depending on your perspective!) amount of clarified butter. When I lived in Hoboken, one of my favorite nights out was getting mussels…
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![Diptych - two thirds show the inside of Taylor Swift's Midnights CD case, the lavender version of the CD, and the CD booklet's lyrics to Anti-Hero. The other third shows a cat looking out of a window at a snowy cedar tree, with part of a computer screen with the Scrivener writing app open. In the foreground is a mug of tea.]()
On Writing Slow and Being My Own Anti-Hero
You know those dish soap bottles that have that little seal under the lid? You forget it’s there and try to get some soap, and no matter how hard you squeeze, nothing comes out. Then you remember and unscrew the lid, and there’s the seal, with its little edge to pull up. But they’re always…
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![Rowan, a blue tabby and white cat, sleeps with his paws up in the air on a black and white herringbone couch-style cat bed. Behind him is a guitar and some records, with U2's Rattle and Hum facing out.]()
My Word of the Year for 2023: Essential
Last year, in a rush of frustration and unexpected clarity, I chose “No” as my word of the year. It turns out that was an excellent choice, and it helped me to shape my year into something both constructive and manageable. It’s amazing what we can accomplish by giving ourselves permission to NOT do the…
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![A squirrel laying on the top of a wooden fence, leaning a front paw over the edge and looking at the viewer as if to say "Hey, you! I've got to tell you something." Blurred background of a tree and yellow autumn leaves.]()
2022 Recap: My Year of No
For so many years, I’ve chosen an inspirational word to represent my year to come… and then promptly forgotten about it. I am a champion at forgetting my yearly goals, sometimes for multiple years at time! This year, when I saw other people posting their words for the year to their social media accounts, I…
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![Six Polaroid-style photos held on a stainless steel fridge by magnets with artwork of cats on them. the photos show a bee gathering lavender pollen, a tabby and white cat on a blanket in front of a brick wall, a chpimunk eating a seed, a tri-color dachshund with his tongue out, a rabbit in a flower garden sniffing the flowers, and a black and white image of a man's feeding a treat to a dachshund.]()
It’s Still 2020, Right?
On New Year’s Eve in 2019, I announced I was back to blogging for 2020, then put up one post about doing a photo project and just … disappeared. I’m pretty sure you know exactly where I went––into my house, like everyone else, with my three weeks of food and other essentials to last out…
