Christmas lights will break your heart…and maybe burn your husband’s retinas. At least, that’s been my experience, and I have had about a billion frustrating Christmas light experiences, so I ought to know. Hubris and the really bad juju of a dead squirrel got me this year. Here is my story: Last Friday, noting the [...]
December can be a particularly grim month for a child to spend in foster care. The holiday season magnifies every painful aspect of their situation. They wonder about the holidays they're used to celebrating and what they’ll look like this year. Will St. Nick come to a house that hangs stockings rather than shoes in [...]
It takes a bit of effort to get to Stockholm, Wisconsin (just ask Swedish Explorer Erik Petterson, who climbed a bluff to get there back in 1856). But, once you arrive, all 76 residents of that beautiful little village will make sure your visit is worth your while. In fact, you can while away in [...]
It's always fun to celebrate a 21st birthday, that raucous rite of passage into American adulthood. When your path to the party takes you through such unimaginable places, that the milestone can feel like a miracle, you get to celebrate with extra joy. That's how we felt last night as we toasted Jojo the Pizza [...]
The sun set brilliantly over Lake Harriet yesterday as we took a brisk post-meal, pre-dessert walk. I am grateful for beautiful sunsets and people who appreciate them as much as I do. I am also grateful for a quirky daughter who set brilliantly the dinner table in her Minnesota apartment with astonishingly delicious, mostly foraged [...]