Archive 2020 - What The Red Herring - Page 2
18th Century Cloak from Costume Close-up

18th Century Cloak from Costume Close-up

I made a fairy tale cloak. I’m still hoping to go to a forest and take some magical pictures out in nature, but real life dictates backyard photo shoots for now.

The End Of An Era

The End Of An Era

I was standing in our dining room with one of my older daughters. We were having a conversation when we heard a loud noise. The door of our china cabinet, inches away from our elbows, flew open. A cascade of china fell to the floor at our feet.

While we were standing very close to it, neither of us had been touching the cabinet. My having seen what happened with my own eyes took away the anxiety I usually experience when I find something broken. I knew no one was at fault, so I was able to skip the Who Is To Blame step of dealing with brokenness.

If I hadn’t been in the room the moment the accident happened, I would have spent serious bandwidth trying to figure out how an accident like that could have happened without human interaction. Yet it clearly had.

Continuing the Dialogue

Continuing the Dialogue

As we continue to do the work on antiracism, we’re going to make mistakes even while trying to get it right.

If you don’t want to drive yourself crazy, you have to accept that there will be times when perhaps you should have spoken up and didn’t, or should have stayed quiet, but didn’t, and instead said something idiotic. Or worse, said something that might have been idiotic, but you can’t be sure.

Fall Reading At its Very Best

Fall Reading At its Very Best

There’s something almost universally appealing to readers about having a comfy chair near a window with a cozy blanket, in a quiet room with a good book.

If you can picture yourself there, I want to suggest a title for the book you’re holding in your hands. So much the better if it’s a rapidly darkening November afternoon, with the window open and a cool, damp breeze flowing in.

It’s A Day, and There was Turkey.

It’s A Day, and There was Turkey.

Today is a day of mourning for Native Americans. It has been so for fifty years. As our country awakens again to the tragedies that have dogged us at every stage of our history, it’s difficult to find a holiday that can be celebrated without mixed feelings.

Truthfully, what holiday was ever free of baggage? These days were already burdened with the small and large issues we have with them, wrapped up in financial woes, boundaries with family members, or our own dark personal struggles.

If you go back to my very first blog post, I talked about the pressure of trying to make all the holiday magic by myself. In the couple of years since then, I’ve realized that I don’t have to do it alone.