I first encountered trumpet vine many years ago riding my bike on the Katy Trail in central Missouri. The Katy Trail is a recreational trail that has been established along the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad and goes across the state from Clinton to Machens. In the hot, muggy summer, tendrils of trumpet vine creep onto the... Continue Reading →
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been wondering why it's so much easier for me to write lately and wondering whether I could have managed to maintain this blog and more traditional employment. I'm fairly sure the answer to the second of those mysteries is "no." I took a little break from writing for... Continue Reading →
My parents have a turtle. Sort of. I guess they probably have lots of turtles tottering about on their land, but one in particular shows up in the yard over and over again. For as long as I can remember, I've loved animals. I've only ever had dogs, cats, and fish as pets, though, and... Continue Reading →
I think smoking is disgusting. I personally choose not to smoke because, on the most basic level, I just find the smell repulsive. I could argue that smoking is "morally wrong" because it is disrespectful of the smoker's own body, of the people around the smoker who are perhaps unwillingly subjected to secondhand smoke, and,... Continue Reading →
I have a habit of buying plants based not on whether I think I can keep them alive, but on what the particular cultivar is named. I'm a sucker for a good name. I've fallen prey to a Frozen Margarita hosta, now planted happily next to a Guacamole hosta, and not far from my Mojito... Continue Reading →
Ha-HA! Now you have the Sesame Street theme song stuck in your head! I've been quiet on here for a couple days again. I've been writing, just not this. And since I've been writing things I'm not ready to share, and because it's been raining, I didn't really have much to report. We have sunshine... Continue Reading →
My husband and I have lived in southwest Missouri for about seven and a half years. We moved from central Missouri, a distance of about 200 miles. Seven and a half years seems like a decently long time, and 200 miles is really not that far (it's not even half of how far the Proclaimers... Continue Reading →
A couple of months ago I bought a stand-up paddle board, and it's driving me crazy that I still haven't had a chance to try it out. The fact that it's stored in a closet upstairs combined with the knowledge that I don't even know if I can stand-up paddle board outside the safety of... Continue Reading →
I gave blood today. I do this semi-regularly, which is to say not as often as the blood bank would like me to, but at least a few times a year. I'm not trying to boast or talk myself up. I'm really just writing about this to record what I did and to maybe encourage... Continue Reading →
When I woke up this morning, my first lucid thought was, "Hang on. That damn fan is off again. I definitely turned it on when I got up to pee a few hours ago." And then I wondered if, however unlikely, Kalen had gotten cold and turned it back off. Then our security system chirped... Continue Reading →
