12.30.15 ‘He moves like God’s immaculate machine’

We’ve gotten away from it all to end the year, and we’ve brought the dog. Birdie came to us in April from — as we were told — a foster rescue situation with an elderly couple in Tennessee. The couple, who reportedly live in a rural area, were ailing and could no longer take care…

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12.19.15 ‘Put a sprinkle on your nose, on your nose’

I met Julia when I was in 6th grade, and we’re still being goofy together some (mumble mumble) years later. Today she had me (and some fellow amazing friends) over to tackle the singularly difficult building of the Taj Mahal … in shortbread. And sprinkles. And frosting. I was unable to stay for the completion…

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12.11.15 ‘We hope our friends will carry us a little on this journey’

We all have causes and hobbies that are near and dear to our hearts. Some of us even fantasize that those causes and hobbies might even become remunerative, because they are also living alongside our dreams. In the case of writers, we’re definitely hoping that the thing we most want to do in our lives turns into something we can do every day of our lives, sans at least some of the other stuff we have to do to pay the bills.

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11.27.15 ‘Our eyes can be just the right size’

Since we are now on that steep snowbank of holiday season, careening at gathering speed from Thanksgiving to Hanukkah to Christmas to Kwanzaa to Festivus to New Years to Oh Lord Another Year Has Passed, I offer up my annual tradition: My short story, “Home for the Holidays,” which combines a feud, holiday lights, and … murder. You’ll never see decorations the same way again.

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2009: Fiji – New Zealand – Australia

In 2009, I hit a birthday milestone and was lucky enough to have a full-time freelance career that allowed me to take three weeks off for a journey I’d been wanting to take since I was about 12: Australia! Now, the package deal I secured also included a brief stop in Fiji (pro: made the…

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2007: Colorado Backcountry Hiker Trip (July 15-20)

“I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating too. I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits, but instead am wondering awed about on a splintered wreck…

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