About Us

Welcome to our blog!

Life is ALWAYS a surprise. 

It twists and turns, never following our visions, never staying on the path we thought it would. Yet, it ends up being just what we need for contentment if we take the time to live it fully.

As I'm writing this, my children are outside enjoying a warm, sunny day after a couple of cool, damp ones. My oldest son, Jake, is looking over our raised garden, seeing what vegetable plants have germinated. ("Mom, the blue potatoes are up!") My creative daughter, Cati, is walking around the yard, ear-buds in, quietly singing her favorite songs from her Smartphone. And my youngest son, Sam, is (im)patiently trying to capture a less-than-willing duck for some, er, bonding time. 

I've spent my morning vacuuming carpets, gathering trash and washing laundry, and contemplating our summer plans. I hope to make fond family memories, ones that the children will remember when they are adults with families of their own. But, as adults, we know that it's the every day things that they'll remember the most.

Our life is simple, uncluttered. The way I've wanted it to be.

Our windows are open for fresh air and the sounds of birds and Spring Peepers filter in. Laundry is hung out to dry in the sun and breeze. The TV doesn't have cable and is only on for video games at the end of the day. We knit or read or play board games. There's bike riding and walking in the forest surrounding us.  We tend a flock of 10 hens and 2 Pekin ducks. We putz around a small 12x6 garden, looking forward to snacking on some peas and beans in August. And we look forward too the lake being warm enough to kayak again.

It's been over a year now since my sudden, unexpected divorce after 18 years of marriage. A whole year of new firsts as a family of 4, of balancing single parenting, and juggling a home. It hasn't gone perfectly, but I'm proud of our resilience, especially that of my children. We're not given more than we can handle.

Over the years my blogs - there have been 3 in total - have gone through many changes as a reflection of the ones in my life. (Check my earlier blog here.) As my path meanders, so does my reflections.

The Road Not Taken

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.