Category: Domestic Life
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Another Christmas
Sniffly noses and raspy coughs interrupt the peaceful night. With pillows stuffed into the corner of the couch, a knitted blanket insulates my fuzzy bathrobe and creates a cozy nest. Snuggling into the slippery leather is better than fighting the noise upstairs.
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Where has all the passion gone?
“Not everyone thinks the way you do,” a friend and coworker once told me. I suppose it was meant to rein in my higher-than-average expectations of myself and others. But as I think about how doomscrolling, social media, and AI are infiltrating, perhaps hijacking, the lives of young people today, I can’t help but think…
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The way will open
Ants have been harassing me. For a week or so before our big trip west, a couple of times when I sat on the couch in the evenings, I felt a little tickle on my arm or leg. When I glanced down, I saw a big, fat black carpenter ant moseying along my bare skin.…
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A simpler summer
Clad in well-worn cotton shorts and shirts, we started the day alternating between scorching sun and suffocating shade, maneuvering our bikes between old paint cans and lawn chairs like the drivers at the Marsh truck rodeo, or resting on a blanket under the huge black willow playing Barbie and Janney dolls, with old Jane West…
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Am I overthinking again?
After one month of dedicated effort, I am no longer a member of my local fitness facility. My pickleball fanatic friend took me as a guest to a new place in town a few weeks ago to enjoy the walking track. We chatted and walked, forgetting the number of laps we made around the balcony…
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I'm not much of a gambler
But in the garden, I’ll take my chances I’ve never been one to depend on chance. The craps and roulette tables never tempt me as I pass through a smokey casino on a cruise ship. I scurry along to avoid smelling like cigarettes when I emerge on the other side. I learned gambling didn’t pay…
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We’re having a little party on Saturday
I’ve got to get ready Even though they won’t be coming, I feel my parents nudging me. I kick into Dad mode. Make a list and assign chores to anyone who is standing nearby or is expected to be standing nearby in the coming hours. Used to be that was my kids’ seasonal horror. “You…
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Adulting isn't easy
Even at my age! The weather is deliciously warm today, with a high in the 60s. There’s not a cloud in the sky- a perfect spring Hoosier day, albeit somewhat early. Too bad it had to be ruined. After my husband left to run errands this afternoon, I let the pup into the back yard…
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My new invasive species: AI
It’s February and my seed catalog browsing has ended. I‘ve decided to create a native perennial flower bed along a neglected side of the house and even have the seed packets in hand. Now it’s time to consider where each plant will spend the summer at my house. Writing the names of the plants on…
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Gorgeous flowers, with a little help from AI
I am starting to get over my Master Gardener imposter syndrome. I’m a teacher by training and vocation, so gardening has been a more recently developed hobby. But my knowledge is growing! After enjoying a bouquet of cut flowers sent by colleagues twice a month during the summer, my husband and I talked about whether…
