I need a vacation from the vacation.” It was The Chef’s answer to me after we wrapped up our Thanksgiving travel, when I asked how he was feeling ahead of his first day back at work, just a few hours away. We had five glorious days off, five consecutive days, where our agenda was possibly a tad too ambitious. Heading over to Asheville to spend … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: Thanksgiving 2023 Is in the Books
This morning I experimented with a new bread recipe that came in two steps, the first a starter to make the night before, and then the balance to make the next morning. I was trying to replicate a Tuscan loaf I bought locally that was so, so good. This does not resemble it at all, but I must say, is so, so much better. Given … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: Trying Something New
And B is for bicycle wreck, which is how last week started. The skin on my legs is variegated in the most gorgeous technicolor hues right now, and there’ve been surprise areas of new mottling every day. Funny I didn’t feel all those pop-up bruises from the first instant I hit the pavement. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: A Is for Anniversary
It is Monday, the first full day in my week-long visit to Dad’s place down in Chattanooga, to his comfortable house in the suburbs (more properly in Ringgold, just over the Georgia state line) he shares with Sheryl, his lovely wife of many years. These travel plans have been in the works since way back in the fall; Sheryl and her two daughters who straddle … Continue reading Reflection: A Father’s Day Gift
But it has been a bad season for pollen, even the locals say so. And even though we’re now locals too, we’re still too green (or yellow, as the case may be) to know what qualifies as “bad” for spring pollen in coastal North Carolina. Evidently this does. Our new home has a screened porch adjacent to the open interior living space on the first … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: Life’s Been Pretty Good Lately
Or dog poop, take your pick. Preamble It is Friday at 2:00 am, and I sense a furry critter bedside staring me down, standing where he normally does not. Scoutie, what is going on? He paces over to our bedroom door and peers out into the living room. I can tell his brow is wrinkled from the forward position of his ears, like maybe he … Continue reading Reflection: Effective Communication Is Worth Its Weight in Gold
Carolina Thinklings 