At the end of September I looked back at the list I’d made at the start of the month. It had four things on it. I wanted to finish a new pattern for Four Robbins, clean out the garage so we could get the second car inside before winter, clean and organize my studio so … Read more
There is a point in preparing for something when more research stops changing what you would do next. You may have read about it, compared your options, asked around and watched enough videos that you already know what the first step would be. And you are still preparing. Sometimes that makes sense, because some decisions … Read more
There are plenty of things we would like to do that don’t technically need to happen on any particular day. Go somewhere for the afternoon. Try a restaurant we’ve been talking about. Visit a museum. Take a hike. Drive to a town we haven’t explored. Plan a weekend away. That’s part of what makes them … Read more
By September, we have enough of the year behind us to know a few things we didn’t know in January. Some plans worked. Some changed, and a few things that seemed important back in January probably don’t matter nearly as much now. There may be other things we keep thinking about that deserve more attention … Read more
I have a pretty good idea of what I would say matters to me. Family. My health. Work I care about. Time outside. Experiences. The projects I’ve chosen because I want to see what I can make of them. I could probably make the list without thinking very hard. Where Is Your Time Actually Going? … Read more
For most of my life, I thought being fit was something you could recognize when you saw it. Someone ran regularly, lifted weights, had a certain kind of body, or could get through a workout without needing to stop. There were numbers for it too — weight, pace, distance, reps, whatever the watch said. I … Read more
I spend a lot of time thinking about what comes next. There are trips Tom and I want to take, things we want to do to the house, work I want to do with Handcrafted Adventure and Four Robbins, and changes I’m making with my health. Some of those things have dates attached to them. … Read more
Looking back, August had a lot of unfinished things in it. The yard is still unfinished. Handcrafted Adventure is still something I’m figuring out. There are things I want that I don’t know exactly how to get yet, and things I’ve stopped wanting enough to keep giving them my time. Apparently I spent a good … Read more
Tom’s birthday was Saturday and mine was Sunday. Next year, I turn 60. I’ve known that, obviously. Birthdays aren’t exactly sneaky. But sometime recently I started thinking differently about the year between 59 and 60. I don’t want to arrive at 60 and realize I spent most of the year doing whatever was already in … Read more
We went to Springfield, Missouri, for a long weekend with Sam and a fairly short list of things we wanted to do. Fantastic Caverns. Wonders of Wildlife. An arcade full of games from the ’80s. A few good meals. That turned out to be about the right amount. We’ve done a few short trips like … Read more