I'm just trying to walk myself home.
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Longer Walks For Seeking The Sacred Over the last few weeks, I have been going for longer and longer walks. Four times a week, I’m crossing the five mile mark, which is long for me friends. It’s partly because I am training for a long walk (Yes, I have bravely put something on the calendar …
Riverboat Cruise on the Mississippi River In October, my mom and aunt came to visit while Simon was still on Fall Break from school. And we all four took a ride on a short riverboat cruise. We boarded the Riverboat Twilight early one morning, while the sun was still rising. My Aunt Jeanne had told …
Michigan Fall Break So another Chino fall break highlight was heading to Michigan for our first time ever. (Check another state off of your list Simon!) We drove over on Saturday morning and after a quick picnic lunch (from Blackberry Market, of course), we went exploring. We hiked several trails where the forest floor turned …
Walking through Autumn in Southern Germany (Baden-Württemberg) Y’all, the autumn was so beautiful in the little town we lived in last year. In the morning, you would walk to town and the hills would have a Scotland-like mist over them, but the afternoons were usually gorgeous blue skies and incredible color. I walked in the …
November arrived in Aberdeen all golden and glowing, but today at its close, it is icy and crisp. I’ve stomped through lots of wet leaves this month, but today the leaves are frozen and crunching beneath my boots. I’ve driven down to Aberdeen Beach in all sorts of weather this month to wander along the North …
Happy Thanksgiving Friends! (That’s me waving to you from across the pond!) Since I am not cooking a turkey or even baking making Grandmother’s rolls today, I thought I would take a few minutes to share a collection of the thoughts of my heart from the past week or so. Because I am just a …
Hello Beautiful Scotland in Fall! The colors of the leaves right now are my consolation for 4:30 sunsets. They are AH-MAH-ZING. Every time I go outside, I take about fifty pictures of trees and leaves. So here are my twenty highlights from the last ten days or so. A spot discovered near Aviemore while visiting Cole …
Family Hiking in the Lake District While we were in the Lake District, we did five different walks together as a family. All of our walks were fairly “lightweight” compared to what many of the other hillwalkers we met were doing, but we were happy with doing shorter walks and taking breaks from the rainy …
I hope you are getting to see the leaves change where you live, because it is one of creation’s most spectacular displays. Every year I am newly amazed. How can the death of something be so beautiful? Of course, one of the very best ways to enjoy fall color is to go camping. And while …
Thanksgiving is my very most favorite holiday. To me, it is full of everything a holiday should be. Quiet, gratefulness, stores closed and homes open, family, friends, cold weather, kids piled in spare rooms and basements, couches full to busting, and of course, food. Lots of it. A beautiful table, prepared by hands that have …
Fall is in the air and I am loving all things pumpkin! I have an affinity for pumpkin recipes that call for an entire can of pumpkin. They appeal to my practical side. I don’t love to save a part of a can of pumpkin puree for some undetermined use, one that usually requires that …
Lake Louise: Plain of Six Glaciers Trail Yesterday we drove up to Lake Louise, arguably one of the most beautiful spots on earth. A path runs along one side of the lake. Towards the end you can look back at the famous Chateau at Lake Louise. My grandmother stayed there many years ago and I …
Johnston Canyon Banff Hiking Trails On our second of hiking in Banff, we hit the most popular trail in the area. Johnston Canyon is an amazing trail, complete with paved, elevated level pathways that are almost stroller accessible. Lucky for us, we are now stroller (and even baby backpack) free. I am loving these days …
Banff Hiking Trails: C Level Cirque Our first hike in Banff was roughly five miles, with some pretty decent elevation gain. We had a beautiful view of Lake Minnewanka through the trees. We hiked around old mining shafts. We climbed boulders and chased pikas under rocks. We picnicked at the bottom of a great rock …
We are spending our Fall Break in the Canadian Rockies, and the Banff Fall Color is absolutely stunning. The trees are a sparkling gold instead of just yellow. Against the pine trees and the blue sky, the color shines so bright. As we are hiking through this part of the Canadian Rockies this week, we …
I’ve said before that we love the mountains. We love to be in the mountains. We love to hike and bike in the summer. We love to ski in the winter. Snow skiing tends to be a little (or a lot) hard on the pocketbook, but it was a huge part of both mine and …
I’ve been in a bit of a funk this week. And I do not like to be down around Thanksgiving. It’s my most favorite holiday. All that food, giving thanks, jigsaw puzzles and family, family, family. But we don’t really get to choose when the uglies come calling for us, or at least I don’t, …
Again with the pumpkin? Yes. It’s rainy and cold and my coffeemaker had an early morning meeting, so I might be swinging through Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte on my way to storytime this morning to go with my muffin. I make a plain pumpkin muffin for my kids that they love, but this …
A couple of weeks ago, Taido and I went to Boulevard Bread Company for lunch and we had the best Mulligatawny I’ve ever tasted. We were leaving for camp that day so I filed it away in my head that I definitely needed to find a recipe for this delectable soup. I need a new …
This week, Simon and I got to escape to Missouri for a couple of nights camping with my dad, my sister and her kids. Anna’s kids were out of school Monday and Tuesday, so we all left on Sunday and met about halfway between here and Chicago at St. Francois State Park. We’ve only camped …