Respect – and how to get it

We all love when we feel respected. In an ideal world, everyone would respect each other. My wonderful blogger friend Kristi Campbell blogs at Finding Ninee about raising a child who is not typical, but also does not have an official diagnosis of autism or PPD-NOS. Wondering about how the world looks through her son’s eyes, she created the Our … Read More

Is it okay to post my children’s photos online?

A few days ago some mothers (including me) in a Facebook groups discussed whether we shared our children’s names and photos on our blogs. Some did, some didn’t. When I began this blog several years ago, I didn’t really know what I was doing. Also I really didn’t know what I was doing. I knew nothing about blogging, except that … Read More

All that makes our blog-hop possible

As I wrote last weekend for the anniversary edition, I like the purpose of the Ten Things of Thankful hop. I like that it encourages people to think about gratitude, that every weekend there are 50 or so posts about gratitude uploaded to the internet. I’ve been reading a book, Fulfilled, by Deirdre Bounds, which reminded me that this state of … Read More

Silver Linings Thanks-Book

This week there has been another birthday and a lot of other stuff. Much of it has not been what I’d choose, but there are silver linings – at least in most things. And whatever life gives to us, however much we might fight it or wish it different, life goes on and the sun comes up each day (even … Read More

“Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom” Reviewed

Last night a friend and I went to see Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom. Neither of us have read Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, but like most people we knew that he’d been in jail for 27 years for (depending on your point of view) terrorist activities or fighting for justice against a corrupt and unfair government. Somewhere in a cupboard, I … Read More

Thank You For the Days: Precious Memories of 2013

The last days of any year are traditionally a time of reflection, and so this post is. For me, this year is overshadowed by the death of my deeply loved father and wonderful aunt, so writing this refection was never going to be easy. I didn’t even get to the end of the first sentence without some tears. I will … Read More

If Trees Were Like Humans (A Christmas Story)

The Tree That Wanted To Be Different The leaves on Ola the oak tree’s strong branches turned yellow and red and fell to the ground. She was used to this; it happened each year. It never used to bother her, because she knew more leaves would grow again in the spring, and she had already stored all the food she … Read More

Themes: Mothers and Daughters in Literature and in Life

 Many years ago, I read My Mother, My Self by Nancy Friday. This book is an exploration of the mother-daughter relationship. Friday points out how much women mirror our mothers, even when we try to do the opposite. She interviewed many women for the book. In describing the way this mirroring isn’t always obvious she says: “Mother lived in a … Read More

Shakespeare For Breakfast at Edinburgh Fringe 2013: a review

 The Edinburgh Festival doesn’t kick off properly for a few days yet, but some venues are already showing previews. This morning my family and I went to a preview of Shakespeare For Breakfast at C venue.  This is the 22nd year that the Bardic Breakfasters have given a modern – and funny – twist to a Shakespeare play. So it’s … Read More