A Story about Love

A Story about Love

Taido and I are celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary today, so it seems like as good a time as any to tell you our love story. Since you already know the end to this story, it might be helpful to start in the middle, when it looked like maybe I would not end up with …

Twelve Days Of Stories at The Chino House

A Story about A Very Bad Grade

Here are the words I spoke to my parents upon receiving the only “F” of my university career: “I think one ‘F’ on a transcript shows character.” A Story about A Very Bad Grade I started college by majoring in psychology, but I was not one term in before I switched my major to English. …

Twelve Days Of Stories at The Chino House

A Story about A Passport

In 2010, my husband and son, Taido and Cole, had a trip planned to go hiking in Switzerland for Cole’s 13th birthday. The night before the trip, there was a small problem. This was first published on my blog that same autumn. A Story about A Passport We were all leaving town on Friday morning, …

10 Life Lessons I've Learned From My Dad, vintage backpacking

A Story about My Daddy

This story about my daddy was previously published as guest post on Sarabeth Jones’ beautiful storytelling site, The Dramatic. A Story about My Daddy Some people take trips to the beach for their family vacations. Others go to Disneyworld. But me. In exchange for the beach or for Disney, I got mountains. And even though …

A Story about Middle School

A Story about Middle School

This story was first published in September 2008 when my oldest son, Cole, started middle school. Actually, this story was also published in a story collection. I, of course, told no one about this because that was before I could say out loud that I Am A Writer. Tread Lightly When It Comes To Middle …

A Story about Money

A Story about Money

Don’t worry. This story has a happy ending. I feel like I owe you that much after yesterday’s story. And if you stay tuned through all twelve days, I also promise to redeem my father from Christmas Gambler to Mountain Hero. Deal? So like I said, a happy ending. I, myself, really enjoy happy endings, …

Twelve Days Of Stories at The Chino House

A Story about Christmas

A Story about Christmas This is not a warm fuzzy Christmas story. Because it is Christmas, and because I myself enjoy happy tales on Christmas, I feel the need to warn you that this one ends in tears and fighting.

A Story about A Cookie

A Story about A Cookie

Welcome to the first story of Twelve Days of Stories. Since it is Christmas Eve, I have a really happy, sweet story for you. (I am trying to make up for tomorrow’s sad story by making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside today.)

Greek Theater, Taormina, Snapshots of Sicily, Italy

Snapshots of Sicily

Last week for Instagram Travel Thursday I shared Snapshots of Venice, which was the second to last city Mary Polly and I visited on our Mediterranean Cruise. Today I’m sharing… Snapshots of Sicily It was over a year ago that we visited our final port of call, the island of Sicily. Until this week, I …

La Gomera, Expat Story Canary Islands

Expat Story: Canary Islands

Today’s Expat Story is from my friend Linda, who moved to the Canary Islands (which are off  the Atlantic coast of Morocco, but a province of Spain) from England over 25 years ago. After you read it, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that maybe we should all consider heading to the islands for the next …

12 Homemade Treats, Christmas Cookies, Holiday Baking

Homemade Treats = Perfect Gifts

12 Homemade Treats for the Holidays! If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you might have heard me engaging in battle with my current nemesis, Tiny Oven. I have admitted Tiny Oven is suffering mostly in my eyes from an unfair comparison to Dream Oven, my industrial wonder from Christmas Past. One of the …

In The Pipeline, Little Advent Tealights, Silver Branches

In The Pipeline: Christmas Links

Last weekend, Taido and I went downtown by ourselves and we walked up and down Union Street and did just a tiny bit of shopping. Mostly we just enjoyed looking at the lights that are making Aberdeen’s city center shine so bright! LOVE! Then we went to a pub, where I had an ale that …

Vaporetto #1 in Venice, Italy

I am sharing photos of Venice for Instagram Travel Thursday this week! All of these images were taken from the front seat of Vaporetto #1, which is a water bus that runs along The Grand Canal. I’m not sure any place gets the kind of reaction that Venice does on Instagram. Instantly recognizable, the floating …

Glencoe, Scotland, Ten Days in the UK by Car

Loch Ness Hunter

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-p3IlPLZ9v9E/Up4RG0J0EOI/AAAAAAAAFsk/XclpIOIOzd8/s144-c-o/DSCF0044.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/100212479652479288017/LochNessHunterTour#5953214566207066338″ caption=”Loch Ness, Scotland” type=”image” alt=”DSCF0044.JPG” ] Loch Ness Hunter Tour Early on a Saturday morning, Mary Polly and I made our way up the still dark street in Edinburgh from our room at Smart City Hostels to Haggis Adventures, a ridiculously convenient distance of 417 feet. We boarded a bus and headed …

Jerusalem Greer, A Homemade Year, Christmas Gifts

A Homemade Year + Merry Christmas Giveaway

A dear friend of mine, Jerusalem Greer, wrote a book that was published last spring called A Homemade Year. It is a lovely book of of stories, photos, recipes and craft ideas for celebrating the Christian liturgical year. The recipes and crafts are wonderfully practical for giving your family ideas for celebrating some of these …

Merlin and Dragon, A Boy and His Dragon

A Boy and His Dragon or A Girl and Her Grandmother.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Q0uBidqM3Qs/UpyA6oMLtFI/AAAAAAAAE7E/1nnNKvUECBk/s144-c-o/DSCF0247.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/100212479652479288017/GlenTanarAberdeenshireScotland20131202#5952774552186238034″ caption=”Glen Tanar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland” type=”image” alt=”DSCF0247.JPG” ] Cold weather makes for lonelier walking paths and on our latest foray into the woods, on the first weekend of Advent, I let the boys get ahead of me on the trail. Autumn is now almost gone. The bare branches of the trees and the …

In the Pipeline, December in Aberdeen, Scotland

In The Pipeline

This is my view at 3pm every day right now. Dark, wet city from underneath an umbrella. I’m the only person carrying an umbrella. Most people do not bother because of a little thing called Gale Force Winds. I had no idea what those were until this week when the windows were rattling in the …

Christmas Market, Princes Street, Snapshots of Edinburgh, Scotland

Snapshots Of Edinburgh

Snapshots of Edinburgh, Scotland For Instagram Travel Thursday this week, I am sharing images of Edinburgh. Mary Polly and I went to Scotland’s capital city a couple of weekends ago to go on a Haggis Tour to Loch Ness for a day. We stayed right off the Royal Mile with Smart City Hostels and spent …

Expat Story: Amsterdam

Today’s Expat Story is coming to us from a city I cannot wait to visit. Cassey is sharing about what life is like as an expat in Amsterdam. Enjoy! Expat Story: Amsterdam Tell us a little bit about yourself.  I’m Cassey, an Australian small business owner and Masters (graduate) student at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. …