Lifestyle

The description is not prominent by default; however, some themes may show it.

Two months left (of 2023)

 150 150 Frances
By:
5
0

Dear Kristin– I’m writing this on October 25th, a date that’s significant for two reasons. First, it’s the anniversary of the day I met Clifton in 1991. He’s now been my boyfriend for 32 years! Second, October 25th means we have two months before Christmas. Eight weeks. 56 days.  Once upon a time, the idea…

read more

Tempus fugit

 150 150 Frances
By:
3
0

Dear Kristin, I’m always shocked when autumn finally arrives–I mean, really arrives. When the chirps of the crickets and the cicadas grow few and far between, when it’s cold in the morning no matter how high the temperatures get later in the day, when I look outside at 7PM and realize it’s already dark. I…

read more

[Re] Feathering the Nest

 150 150 Kristin
By:
3
0

Dear Frances, One of the things that I didn’t spend much time thinking about before the kids moved out was how we were going to use those empty rooms. To be sure, there have been lots of suggestions—sewing room, home office, and exercise room, to name a few. And I went all in on the…

read more

[Old] Puppy love

 150 150 Frances
By:
4
0

Dear Kristin, I’m writing this on the couch in the front room, Travis snuggled by my side, his hind feet resting against my leg. This has been our habit for nearly sixteen years, me writing, Travis napping, the two of us always attached. Travis is an old guy now and it shows. He’s still eager…

read more

Libraries

 150 150 Kristin
By:
4
0

Dear Frances, I went to the library this week to pick up a couple of books I had put on hold (one of them, Weekday Vegetarians, which you recommended last week). Because I read mostly e-books these days, I don’t get to the library as often as I used to. The library is one of…

read more

September

 150 150 Frances
By:
6
0

Dear Kristin, I’ve never been a foodie, but sometimes I taste something that makes me so happy I want to change my life. Take the Caesar dressing I just made. It was the simplest recipe in the world, from The Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach, made with mayo instead of eggs, and perfectly balanced in…

read more

What Are You Working On?

 150 150 Kristin
By:
8
0

Dear Frances, Sometimes I feel like I don’t use my time as well as I should–especially in the evening. My mornings are pretty set: coffee, workout, tidy up, and work. But I’ve got about three hours after dinner before I go to bed and sometimes I just…waste it. I’ve been aware lately of how easy…

read more

5 Things We’re Loving Right Now: Summer Edition 

 150 150 Frances
By:
11
0

Dear Kristin, It’s time for a list of our favorite things–or at least five of them! I looked back at my Five Favorite Things list from late March and saw that my number one thing was central heating. Here we are in mid-August, and my Number One Favorite Thing is electricity, having just spent the…

read more

The Re-Emptied Nest

 150 150 Kristin
By:
1
0

Dear Frances, It seems like as soon as I get used to Ben being home from college for the summer, he’s back to school and I’m left with all kinds of conflicting emotions and a bunch of fruit rotting on the counter. Even though we call ourselves empty nesters, the reality is that you and…

read more

Yarnstorm!

 150 150 Frances
By:
4
0

Dear Kristin,I was overjoyed last week when you shared the good news that Jane Brocket of Yarnstorm fame is back! These days she’s on Substack, but I first met her in the heyday of the domestic blog, circa 2005. In the early days of the early aughts, Jane’s focus was knitting (hence the blog’s name), but…

read more