I was just telling you a bit about the delightful Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth. He receives a purple tollbooth, some coins to pay tolls with, and a map of the places served by this particular tollbooth. He immediately observes they aren’t anywhere served by the Jersey Turnpike… (Well, I …
When I was a mere slip of a bookwright — a veritable inchbookworm — I stumbled upon several books that rang out to me like bells across a silent snowfield. And, strangely, usually, shortly after I absorbed them, they vanished. Not because I personally lost them: Never! Books which belonged …
It is a difficult enough thing to do, to go through one’s beloved’s belongings after they die. Clothes that still smell faintly of their cologne (patchouli, in Timothy’s case). Diaries with memos about dates you shared, appointments you didn’t, gifts given to you for anniversaries or birthdays. Items you know …
I bought Marie Kondo’s first book on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up right after it came out. It had an enchantingly simple take on clutter: Hold the object, and if it doesn’t spark joy, bless it and send it out the door. Someone, somewhere, will probably find the joy …
Inspired by a New York Times Smarter Living column last January, and knowing I had a multitude of frogs to consume in 2019 (banking, vehicles, books, computer accounts, & etc & etc), I bought myself a set of Best Self journals. Once in hand, of course, I had to figure …
That is an intentional comma and exclamation mark, so you do not think I’m warning you, gentle reader, to watch out you don’t catch your nice knitted pullover on the thornier bits of antelope bitterbrush. No! I am warning the antelope bitterbrush that attempts to spread its scrubby, noxious weediness …
As it happens, last week was the last of the current 13-week cycle in my BestSelf journal. This week, I reviewed the goal-setting section at the front of the book to see how I’ve done. Generally, more frogs have been consumed than not. If it is your job to eat …
Let me begin by admitting I can’t knit to save myself. If I were faced with a sinking sailboat and the requirement I knit myself a line to reach the dock, I would likely have to raise hand to forehead and go quietly down with the ship. I’m only fractionally …
I came home from work today feeling thoroughly under the weather. Yet I thought I should do something productive before taking to my couch (or the almost-Eames chair) with a hot-water bottle and a martini. (Timothy was often amazed at the revitalizing tonic effects of gin, with or without actual …
