Category: Family

Why We Gave Up

So Colin and I were going to do The Master Cleanse. Which is a great way to lose weight, but not the reason why one should do it. It’s a cleanse, after all, designed for clearing out toxins and getting you healthy. Day one was yesterday and as mentioned in yesterday’s post “Hungryland”, I spent…

As Right as Me!

I don’t mean to gloat but– well, oops sorry! Apparently I do! Colin told me this morning that he noticed that when I am right about something and he is wrong, I have the instinct to remind him at least once or twice. “See? I was right! See Colin?? I was right!” My response of…

When Friends Disappear

Or, the Christmas Card That Ate My Friends It’s that time of year again– the time when I start fuming about Christmas cards. I love sending Christmas cards. Sure it’s time-consuming and tedious, but there is just something about putting together a good card with some fun photos and remembering your friends and family at…

Our First Christmas

Of course it isn’t. But it is, really. Because Colin and I are spending Christmas, each of us–for the first time in over 18 years– at home. Here’s our first Christmas tree together. We got it pre-cut this year from a great little family-owned, fifth generation nursery called Q-Gardens. Next year we’ll probably cut one…

Home, Here and There

Whenever I stop myself from trying too hard and whenever I look and see what it is I am searching for, it Is almost certainly the long, wide flat spaces of home, the first. It is easy enough to reason away life in the mid-hinterlands. How can I ever get the culture or the speed…

A Jonas Brother Amongst Us.

I was having a perfectly lovely lazy Thanksgiving when I notice a young teeny bopper-ish boy performing during halftime of the game that was on TV. He was pretty cute, I thought. Dark curly hair, sweet mischievous smile, eyes that crinkled to a squint when he grinned. In the photo, here, it’s the one on…

My Amazing Husband: The Hole in the House

Happy Thanksgiving. Colin and I are away for a few days (guard cat Betty is home and in charge!), but I wanted to make sure I said my Thanks here for Colin, who is, by all accounts, amazing. I won’t bore you with a laundry list, I’ll just provide one or two examples, in images.…

Of Old Wood and Hands Made

Our Farm Table, by David Ellison of Lorimer Antiques We recently had our “new” dining room table delivered to us. It was the last piece of the renovation puzzle in our “green” family room.  It really is green… the walls are not only painted green, but were painted with low VOC paint (low harmful fumes)…

English Things I Miss, Part 1: The Toast Rack

Here’s a new, non-regular segment for you that perhaps will help me cope with the grieving process of no longer living in London: English Things I Miss, subtitle, Though Not Necessarily So Much That I Would Move Back to the God-Forsaken Land of Clouds and Complaining. First English Thing I Miss: The Toast Rack It…

The Perfect Marriage: TiVo and Netflix

My husband, maybe to mock my attachment to my typewriter, or maybe just to give me the good news, sent me this article, today. It breaks the much-awaited news (at least around our place) that two of the greatest entertainment inventions: TiVo and Netflix, are going to join forces. This is akin to the Wonder…

Pumpkin Carving Party– Here!

Colin and I are carving our pumpkins tonight on Hilltop. I bought them from the little farm around the corner from us. They didn’t grow them there (their crop got whacked by the hailstorm in August too), but got them from Hamden up the road. I am going through all the motions of my favorite…

Danny Wallace’s Cup of Tea

Dear Danny, I just wanted to send you a note to tell you that I was thinking about you. I’ve got the kettle on and it happens that way. Whenever I go to make my second cup of tea (especially on a cloudy day), I think of your “another cup of tea and biscuits” moments…

The Air Up There

How to Act Like an Elitist Although I do like to rant, I try not to “talk politics” around this space. This has to do with my fear of “alienating” people. Let’s face it, not that many people read this blog! I can’t take any chances! But I am fired up! Read on! Sam Harris,…

The Greatest Circus Showman on Earth

P.T. Barnum creates the “Original Family Entertainment” With the Circus blogtour at MomCentral.com underway, I wanted to make sure I took time to visit the P.T. Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, CT. Ringling Bros. circuses are touring the nation right now, and in just a few weeks, the Ringling show “Bellobration” will be coming home to…

Shona’s Run

Super news from my fleet-of-foot Phillips relatives, Greg and niece, Shona, in Kingston … “This morning, after exactly three months of training, Shona ran the Thousand Islands Parkway Half Marathon (21.1 km). I ran beside her as coach and moral support while Karen played chauffeur, cheering section, and chief photographer. “The weather was reasonably good:…