I am so grateful to my sister Molly for inviting my husband and me to spend time with her in North Carolina. She rented a house right on the beach with a wrap around front porch, which made for the perfect viewing of early morning sunrises. I love what she wrote in a book that she put together since: "There is nothing more symbolic of hope and renewal than the sunrise. All things seem possible in the presence of the sun's impossible beauty. When your world is in turmoil, the simple truth in knowing the sun will continue to rise is a healing thought." - Molly Ahearn (Here is a link to her own blog post with stunning photos and...
I have been making a bunch of soups lately, after a long hiatus from the kitchen, and have to say that it has been both fun and satisfying. I needed to figure out an alternative to sandwiches at lunchtime, since I no longer craved them, and I wanted to replace them with something that was nutritious and comforting. I like the texture of pureed soups, so started there. Two things that I learned from Mark Bittman in his cookbook How To Cook Everything are 1) Roast whatever vegetables you're going to use before adding them to the soup and 2) Potatoes work great to create a creamy texture if you don't want to use dairy. Here are some of my...
I feel like I’ve been through the wringer for so long. Years. Decades, even. But here I am feeling as grateful as ever for so much. One of the standout things that helps me feel the way I do is finally feeling like I am part of a community. During Covid, my husband, Smitty, announced that he really needed a dog. My initial thought was that it would be better to wait until we finished renovating our 200+ year old farmhouse. But he REALLY needed a dog. So, he went about looking through rescue websites and was hoping to find an Australian Cattle Dog that we could take in and adore. It wasn’t long before he found one in Hillsdale,...
