The Commonplace Book
Have you ever had the experience where you learned a term for something you didn't know existed and yet knew the thing itself existed?...
A growing collection of writing, nature, animals, science, art, geography, and other fun curiosities.
Have you ever had the experience where you learned a term for something you didn't know existed and yet knew the thing itself existed?...
Being mid-January now, it seems too late to write about resolutions for 2023 and reflections for 2022 but allow me this: I came across a...
It's dark now by 5 pm. Stupid and dark. Soon to be stupid and cold and dark. And while I will wallow in my seasonal-affectiveness-disorde...
I am in full autumn fan girl mode right now. Pumpkins: bought. Pie: made and eaten. Constantly thinking about new cozy hobbies for dark,...
Here we are at the turn of a season. I like the coolness in the air and the goldenrod but am reluctant to let go of summer, with its...
The stupor of deep summer is upon me. It's the "try-to-get-all-outside-stuff-done-between-the-hours-of-5:30-am-and-7:30-am" type of...
I'm in full summer mode here at the Curio Cabinet. This means a lot of exploring outdoors and very little writing or artsy-fartsy. But...
Two weekends ago my husband and I went on a short, local backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail in Maryland. The first day we had...
Last week I finished reading Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton....
I have a love/hate relationship with March. All its ups and downs with temperature give me trust issues with Mother Nature and this past...
I finished Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott the other week. I enjoyed it. She's funny and down-to-earth and has some great perspectives on...
I did it! The other week I finished my first zine in over a year! "Historic Houses" is a collage of an old map of National Trust...
I paint my bee hives in the winter. It gives me something to do in nasty weather and I feel I'm in the most need for color on these...
There's something to be said about the mundane. I tend to measure the worth of a writer by how well she can make the mundane seem...
Right after Thanksgiving there were a few days that started off very cold around here. During one such morning, I saw, to my surprise, a...
My family and I share books. We trade, recommend, gush, argue, critique. There are a handful of books that my mom, dad, and I have read...
My husband gifted me a new word a few weeks ago, one I'd never heard of or recall seeing in print and now my laptop is reacting as...
I used to dislike fall because it meant I was back in school, the greenery was dying, and soon the dark slog through winter would begin....
Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. - Rachel...
Spring has sprung! The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, and Anna is outside playing and definitely not inside...