Monthly Archives: March 2026

Discomfort

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Yesterday I finished reading a novel that was both captivating and stomach turning. Maybe it’s the mood I’m in right now but I wasn’t prepared for the rawness of this story. The book is called “The Song Of The Blue Bottle Tree” by India Hanford.

The author weaves together the stories of multiple people in 1967 including a snake handling preacher who abuses and molests women and girls in his life, a Vietnam veteran who comes home fighting a different kind of war, and a woman whose story is rich and unpredictable.

I liked the book but there were times the abuse theme was too much to absorb. Luckily, I didn’t dwell long in this oppressive world because the story was so well told I didn’t want to put the book down and it ended quickly.

When I told my fella all this, he asked if I was glad to have read it.

My answer was this:

Literature is not always meant to be comfortable.

If you are always completely comfortable with what you’re reading, it’s time to try some new books. Yes, we read to entertain ourselves but we ought to also be reading to expand our minds and learn about something that is different than the world we know.

The world does not owe us comfort. This applies to books and movies, to jobs or teachers that push us further than we wish to go, to the historic record that we don’t like, and the contemporary events that drive us to change the channel when the news comes on.

I have been thinking some about solo hikes and road trip adventures. These things didn’t always come easy but I did them anyway and am better for it.

Discomfort is where the growth begins. Trust me. I have experience in this area.

I know people who read just one genre and watch only certain kinds of tv shows. They vacation in the same place year after year and stick to the same blandly scripted series of safe choices.

I hope to never be that person.

Let’s all vow to try new things when we can, to open our minds to the things that make us think, and to refuse to accept comfort when we can instead choose growth.

Silent Sunday: Hocking Hills State Park

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Silent Sunday: Look Up

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Grandma Core

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The first time I heard the phrase “Grandma Core” was in a thrift store while sifting through a box of forties era recipe pamphlets, Someone had written the phase with a smiley face on a scrap of paper and taped it to the box.

That was a few years ago and I was a little taken aback to learn there was an actual name for my style and living intentions. And I was a little annoyed that it has a strangely ambiguous connotation that some might interpret as negative. You now often hear it referred to as the more palatable “Cottage Core.”

Lately, I’m hearing these phrases everywhere as social media influencers claiming to be deinfluencers tell us about a better way to live than with fast food, fast fashion and lots of junk from the store. It’s an aesthetic but it’s more than that.

They show us their thrifted finds, clotheslines, and bowls full of cherries on a window sill. They show us doilies on side tables with handmade baskets used to disguise tv remotes and charging cables. They show us the bread they baked and their farmers market bounty.

It’s quiet and slower. There’s no tv over the fireplace. Instead, there’s a vintage painting and with thrifted brass candlesticks. There’s no harsh light or rushing.

If the internet were scratch and sniff, these videos would smell of apples simmering in cast iron, rising yeast, and of freshly laundered towels.

This grandma or cottage core concept fits well with my attempts at embracing analog living.

Soft sheets, textured throws, a cozy corner to read, something bubbling on the stove top or baking in the oven. Feeding the birds, soft light, knick knacks, a bowl of hot popcorn, a quiet hobby, meals on the porch. Thrifting for things that were made to last, using what you have, cooking instead of ordering, fixing instead of replacing.

I enjoy this slower pace of life.

I have built a lovely, quiet little life for myself – a grandma core life if you will. Soon I’ll have more energy and time to be out adventuring. In fact, White Lightening goes for an oil change and tire rotation this week. I’m already thinking about day trips and am excited to be out exploring again soon.

But I’m also grateful to have this quiet, lovely home to come back to after a long day of adventuring.

Grandma core? Cottage core? Analog living? You can call it anything you like but I think it’s pretty fabulous.

Spring Chores

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We have passed the mid point of March which means spring will soon be here. In southern Ohio, this season used to stretch on for a couple of months. Now it’s more like three weeks of moderate temperatures before giving way to humidity and heat.

It occurred to me this weekend that I have a boatload of outdoor work I want to get done before summer moves in. Incidentally, it is mostly the same stuff I wanted done last year.

There’s a big patch of poison ivy and weeds surrounding a tree stump in my front yard that desperately needs addressed. The house needs power washed. There’s a shed needing cleaned out. The back porch needs a good scrub. There’s a lot of flower bed work too.

This would be a great time to take care of that shed and the junk piled up around it but I’m lacking the motivation and time to get outside and tackle it.

This doesn’t bode well for the rest of that list.

Meanwhile, we received snow last night. It was eighty degree just a few days ago. Maybe next weekend.

What’s on your spring list? It would be good to get our chores done now so we are free to adventure later.

Still Here

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Greetings, friends. I just wanted to pop in and say I’m still around even if I haven’t been present here for some time. My days are currently more mentally taxing than normal and the thought of writing even one more paragraph feels like too much most of the time.

This is a season and not a permanent way of life even though it does feel like it will never end.

My No Spend Challenge kept me mostly at home, resting, reading and turning inward this winter. That’s officially done now but I unofficially haven’t changed much. It’s an act of self preservation at this point but Adventure Season will start in about six weeks and I’m looking forward to it. There are several day trips I would like to take, some new-to-me bookstores and diners and maybe some longer adventures too.

Life will eventually return to normal and I’ll get back on some kind of writing schedule here too. I actually have a ton of travel stories to tell you from last fall but simply haven’t had the mental energy to do it.

Last November I announced that I wanted to hike as much as possible this winter. I had big plans for hitting the local trails.

And then reality set in.

The weekends were too harsh for hiking with frigid temperatures, icy trails and hazardous road conditions that kept us away. Then the snow melted into mud and ice. And then the wind moved in, making it unsafe to be under trees where a falling limb could land on your head at anytime. And then the rain came, ushering in a period of flooding.

Such is life in Ohio.

I did get to walk the Moonville Rail Trail a few weekends ago and then made it to a nearby trail at Old Man’s Cave in the Hocking Hills yesterday.

Fresh air and a good stretch of the legs will change your outlook on life.

The wind is back today but it’s about 65 degrees right now so I turned off the heat and opened a few windows to air out the house.

Sunday is always a reset day for me. Laundry, a little food preps and some small chores help to make the week go more smoothly. Some rest, reading and lots of hydration will help me feel like facing it.

I like habit and routine to keep me honest. I like adventure days for keeping me happy and fulfilled. I also believe in listening to my body and mind and in giving them what they need especially when in a season of challenges.

Through it all Scout has remained my steadfast companion and perhaps the only one in my life with no demands other than dinner and no judgement of me except when dinner is late.

We all need someone like that in our lives!

Go forth and adventure when you can. Dream of better days when you can’t and remember that rest is importantly to feeling well enough to face your day.

I’ll be here taking it easy and gearing up for better days!