Category Archives: Retrospect

A New Year

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It’s January 1, 2026. New Year’s Day. That statement means different things to some people and certainly something different to me than most. 

It’s a grand celebration for many and a more introspective time for others. Personally, I was in bed with a book before nine last night and asleep before midnight. This has never been a big day for me but I am glad for those of you who celebrate. 

The decision to read in bed and get some rest was an intentional head start to how I want my winter to be. As I age, I become more convinced that seasonal change is good for the human body and spirit. Even summer, which I despise, has a purpose in the rhythm of life even if many modern humans think it exists solely for their entertainment. 

Spring is a period of rebirth and a revival of beauty. Summer gives us longer days for productivity and growing while fall is a season of harvest and preparation for the harsher days ahead. 

And here we are in those harsher days where it’s cold and brown, where pine trees and lingering autumn leaves provide most of the color. The ground here is hard and blanketed in snow. Everywhere you look, trees and flowers are dormant. Animals have disappeared, choosing hibernation over struggle. Those left like the deer, birds, opossums, and squirrels do struggle so I make the trek outside each day to leave them a little something – not enough for them to become dependent but enough to help them out. 

As a modern American with a job and responsibilities, I cannot completely hibernate but I do my best to take advantage of the season. Where there’s darkness, I shine soft lights of a Christmas tree and strategically placed lamps. I make things cozy, welcoming and calm. This year I added a string of lights around the inside of my bedroom windows, making that room feel a little like a Scandinavian retreat.  

January has long been a No Spend Challenge Month for me, a perfect time to choose the quiet of home rather than adventure in the outside world. I will relive some adventures by telling you about them in stories this winter. I may even plan some trips for later this year. But I’m more likely to pass the month quietly here in my home on the ridge. I will do some home organization and maybe a little redecorating with things I already own. Feathering my nest is one of my favorite things to do.

I recently heard an interior designer say that minimalism and grey are out and that antiques and color are back. Homes that feel curated over time are back in fashion over those that look like they were carried in all at once. 

Essentially, I’ve been preparing for this moment my whole life!

I developed a bedtime ritual last year but, as life became busier and more tiring, I notice myself rushing or skipping steps in favor of just getting to sleep. Mealtime is something thrown together. For the last couple of weeks, meals have been comprised of whatever leftover pasta, veggies, potatoes, cheese, and fudge I happened to find available. Bedtime has been later and later. For weeks, running errands and doing things I really didn’t want to do replaced intention and calm. 

I don’t exactly have New Year’s Resolutions but I do believe that this month is the right time for me to reset my intentions. To think more about nourishing meals, to choose water over Diet Coke, to choose rest over whatever nonsense the outside world has to offer, to read more, to relax with a puzzle, to try a new recipe, to feather my nest, to soothe my own nervous system – these are the things I resolve to do more. 

So, the blog for the next several weeks will be sort of a hodgepodge of adventure stories from last year, reading goals, cat stories, No Spend Challenge notes and other assorted things happening around here. I will also attempt to get back into a regular writing habit. When life gets to be too much, this blog is basically the canary in the coal mine. If I’m not writing here, that means there are bigger problems and distractions elsewhere.  

 I hope you’ll stay for it.

Happy New Year, friends! I hope you will make 2026 the best year for whatever will make you happy and calm. 

Please Sit

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The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of my favorite places to roam. There’s always something to discover and plenty of beauty for the grand total of zero dollars admission.

There’s one room with an enormous wooden bench where I sometimes sit to just appreciate the space. Truth is, that bench is my favorite thing in that room but I never really thought about it’s origins. In that room, my fella especially enjoys a painting called Alexander the Great and the Fates by the Italian Baroque artist Bernadino Mei. It’s a compelling work of art where two of the three Fates who control the tread of life spin and measure Alexander’s life thread. The third goddess grapples with Alexander, preparing to cut the thread and end his life. There’s much more to it than that and I always see something new. 

I usually go in and plop down on that big bench. It’s a great place to rest a moment and appreciate Alexander the Great before continuing on through the maze of galleries. On our last visit, I noticed there’s a card on the end of that bench. It reads “Palace Bench, Florence Italy, 15th Century, Walnut, Museum Purchase 1953.156, PLEASE SIT.”

Holy cow. How many times have I sat here without knowing that it’s more than just a pretty bench? 

How many people have sat on this bench to pray, to mourn or to celebrate? How many museum goers have, like me, wandered through without noticing that we were sitting on a piece of history?

Here’s my advice for today. Don’t be afraid to look around and to admire things in a museum. Stand in one spot and just take in your surroundings. Study the painting you don’t understand. If you think it’s interesting, Google it while you stand there so you can understand what’s happening. Pay attention to the things that no one else looks at. Read the card discreetly placed on the thing everyone sits on. 

There’s usually a story! 

An Evening With Sean Of The South

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One of my favorite contemporary writers is a southerner named Sean Dietrich. He also uses the moniker Sean of the South for his blog and a one man show he performs all over the United States. He uses music and humor to make folks feel good. 

But he’s more than a southerner and more than a writer or a musician. He’s a storyteller whose message and everyman themes stretch across geography, generations, denominations and all the other imaginary lines we humans like to draw around ourselves. 

My gateway into his work was this video where he talks about a kind librarian and the difference she made in his life. Go watch it and come back. I’ll wait. It is lovely, heartfelt and worth your time.

Because of this video I discovered his daily essays and podcasts before finally reading one of his books and then another and another. I have not read everything he’s written but I’m working on it because his writing inevitably makes me feel better about the world. 

Searn writes about people who are kind or who are doing something good in this world. He writes about his dog Thelma Lou and about how church ladies run the show. He writes about his own origin story which he justifiably still wrestles to understand. 

He writes stories that prove there are still good people in this world. What he doesn’t write about is politics, religion or anything else that might divide us. His writing is a study in seeking out the good, looking out for one another, and in creating the family you need or, maybe, that needs us. 

He’s a modern day Mark Twain and is said to be the south’s answer to Garrison Keillor. He’s a man of profound words and many talents with a sense of humor that ranges from smartly witty to canned corn. And for someone who regularly stands in the circle of a spotlight, he seems a humble man too. 

My fella and I built a long weekend of books and fun around seeing the Sean of the South stage show in Cincinnati earlier this month. I’m a fan of the advice to never meet your heroes because too often we find that talented humans are still just human. They’re never as good as we hope. 

I’m thrilled to say that Sean Dietrich was exactly what I thought he would be and more.

Sean performed in Ohio for the first time as what must have been a sold out audience welcomed him to the 20th Century Theater. His wife Jaime meets and greets folks at the merchandise table where you can buy books, shirts, and music cds. 

His stage show is a fun medley of storytelling and music. He tells jokes and funny stories using music sometimes as vehicles for the stories and sometimes like props. It’s a high energy show with few lulls and no time to get bored. Sure, there were some men in the audience who clearly were there because their wives demanded it but the rest of us were thrilled to spend a couple of hours with his wit and melodies. 

When it was over, Sean Dietrich stood by the front door and greeted every person in line. He signed books, hugged people, posed for pictures and talked with folks. We had second row seats so we were near the end of the line and waited about an hour to have our turn. Friends, there are few people on this planet I would stand in that kind of line to meet but I was so grateful for the opportunity. We accepted hugs even though I’m not a hugger but it’s sort of a when in Rome moment. He signed my books. Best of all, he answered my question about writing in a way that was so gracious and kind I was actually surprised at how much thought he put into it. 

I thanked him for his daily essays, a bright spot on social media which feels more like a cesspool sometimes than a place to find inspiration and light. I told him to be careful going home and he told us to watch out for deer. We rural folks like to remind everyone of the ever lurking dangers of deer in the road. 

It was like chatting with an old friend. 

In fact, everything he puts out in the world feels like a chat with an old friend and that’s something we badly need these days. We need someone in our life who will remind us there’s still good in this world despite what the algorithm shows us. We need talent and creativity and someone to inspire us to be kind to a stranger, to share a funny story or to flex our creative muscle even if it’s just for ourselves. 

By the way, his father committed suicide when he was only eleven years old. While this horrific event helped to shape him into the person he is today, it didn’t break him and I don’t believe it defines him either. If a child can survive something so terrible, it seems like the rest of us will be ok too. 

Read his books. Follow him on Facebook for daily essays. Listen to the podcast. Go see the show. You won’t be disappointed. Get started at his website.

Remembering Lt. Commander Bobbi Hovis

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On this Veterans Day, I want to tell you about Lt. Commander Bobbi Hovis, a remarkable woman who enlisted as a Navy Flight Nurse and volunteered for service in Korea and Vietnam. I learned about her at the Hagen History Center in Erie, Pa. 

Born in 1925, Bobbi grew up in Erie County, PA and graduated from the Western Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing in 1946. During her service in Korea, she flew the Pacific with the 1453rd Medical Evacuation Squadron that evacuated 16,604 injured without any fatalities. In Vietnam, she witnessed at least four coup d’etats. She was shot at once and kept the bullet that narrowly missed her. 

Exposed to Agent Orange during her service, she suffered its effects until her death in 2024. 

Lt. Commander Bobbi Hovis was tough as nails.

This museum has her flight jacket, her service medals and a Green Beret given to Bobbi by a grateful patient. It was the only thing he had to give and was one of her most prized possessions. They also have a jet helmet that Bobbi wore on a classified mission assisting a flight surgeon on a Douglas F3D Skynight jet. She was the first Navy flight nurse to go on this type of mission. 

She authored a book titled Station Hospital Saigon, A Nurse In Vietnam and they have a copy of that book as well. 

Lt. Commander Hovis retired in 1967 after twenty years of service. In 2019 she was interviewed for a Vietnam War 50th anniversary oral history project. You can watch that video here if you are so inclined. 

I was fascinated by the photo of this pretty lady and did my best to imagine her dodging bullets, wading through blood and muck while she performed whatever heroics earned her all those medals. I could not fathom what that must have been like. She was a pioneer, a hero and one of many women who served who deserve our gratitude. 

History is full of incredible stories about real people like Lt. Commander Bobbi Hovis. If you have a veteran in your life, remember to say thanks for their service. They may not get museum displays or tell you their stories but they deserve our thanks. 

Around Here: Back Home Edition

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Around here, I am freshly back from vacation and barely acclimating. I’m not one to rest well when I travel nor do I allow myself a lot of time to just breathe. If I’m going to the trouble of traveling someplace, I want to enjoy that place and see as much as possible. Then I was in hurry up and wait mode as air travel felt like more like a chore than a luxury this time.

So I came home tired, jet lagged and possibly fighting off a cold or something worse.

I slept about fifteen hours last night. While I regret missing so much of this day, I am glad to wake up feeling much better and less like knocking on death’s door.

Around here, the colors are muted, the sky is dull and it is chilly. It’s the perfect day to lollygag with a book and cat and to piddle around the house, putting things back in order. Dishes are done, the bedsheets are drying, and the bed is airing out while it waits to be made up.

It’s also a good day for soup. I found a recipe to try but I’m going to Brandify it so wish me luck. This could go well or be terrible.

Around here, I broke down and turned on the heat today. Overnight temperatures outside have been in the thirties since I got home. I play this game to see how long I can hold out before turning on the furnace. My goal is November 1. It’s October 25 and was 50 degrees inside when I got up.

I’m choosing comfort over valor this year.

Around here, I am five books behind on my annual reading goal with little hope of catching up by December 31. Thats ok. The reading goal is really designed to keep me pushing forward rather than to make me feel bad for missing the mark. In the end, I will still have read a ton of truly good books this year.

Around here I am contemplating what travel stories to tell you in the coming weeks. This trip to Cody was exactly what I needed – some museums, some outdoors, some shopping and some time with my friend who I miss very much.

There wasn’t any hiking though as my knee continues to be an issue. Instead, we did some sightseeing and even some off-roading in her Jeep. Cody isn’t especially friendly to those of us who don’t eat meat so I came home excited for vegetables and with few restaurant recommendations to share.

And much of what we learned in museums wasn’t especially cheerful. The most meaningful place we went was Heart Mountain, the site of an internment camp where Japanese Americans were held during World War II. Their interpretive center is a place I believe every American should experience at least once. Yet, I notice that people I have tried to talk to about it completely check out of the conversation because they don’t want to hear it.

Because ignoring it will certainly make it go away, right?

Around here I’m thinking a lot about the stories we tell ourselves, the ones we choose to hear, and how our ability to only be exposed to what we like or agree with is killing our nation.

Around here, I have a lot on my mind. But for now, I’ll cuddle my kitty cat who is desperately glad to have me here and I’ll make my soup and read my book and be glad to be back home.

Like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, around here is a pretty cool place to be.

Gloomy and Grey

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Yesterday dawned gloomy and grey. I awoke to the sound of heavy rainfall and, for a moment, gave thanks for the new roof and gutters finally completed this summer.

A mist rose over the muted green and brown trees on a hillside that should be more colorful this first week of October.

Where are all the pretty colors? We ask the question without expecting a response. They likely won’t come this year thanks to a long, dry summer.

The day was cooler and quiet save for the rain or perhaps because of it.

Fall began on the calendar last month. In my corner of the world, it began yesterday when I awoke to cooler air and a distant mist that was both spooky and reassuring.

Fall has arrived, the day said. Relax and understand that summer’s incessant heat isn’t your burden to carry.

Stop, take a breath and enjoy this day.