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ANNA'S CURIO CABINET
A growing collection of writing, nature, animals, science, art, geography, and other fun curiosities.

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Now THAT'S a curio cabinet!
I'm not getting paid to endorse, but endorse I shall: The Public Domain Review is a fantastic online publication that plumbs the depths...
aobriendvm
Oct 17, 20231 min read
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Summer People
I broke my collarbone in spring of 2018 which meant I was stuck inside with my right arm in a sling and forbidden to bike/run/horse...
aobriendvm
Sep 13, 20232 min read
12 views
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The Stars Have Left the Galaxy
Spring has come and gone and we're at the start of a drier than normal summer. It's been cooler so far too, although with El Niño...
aobriendvm
Jun 9, 20232 min read
21 views
1 comment


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?...
aobriendvm
Feb 25, 20233 min read
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New Year, Same Me
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...
aobriendvm
Jan 15, 20233 min read
8 views
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Don't Forget to Use your Hands
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...
aobriendvm
Nov 11, 20222 min read
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The World is Larger than your Imagination
I am in full autumn fan girl mode right now. Pumpkins: bought. Pie: made and eaten. Constantly thinking about new cozy hobbies for dark,...
aobriendvm
Oct 16, 20222 min read
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Every Step is a Leap
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...
aobriendvm
Sep 26, 20222 min read
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Out-of-Reach Glories
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...
aobriendvm
Jul 24, 20222 min read
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A Handful of Summer
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...
aobriendvm
Jun 30, 20221 min read
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Small Tokens
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...
aobriendvm
Apr 26, 20222 min read
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Land Blinks and Water Skies
Last week I finished reading Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton....
aobriendvm
Mar 27, 20222 min read
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The Emergence
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...
aobriendvm
Mar 14, 20222 min read
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Bird by Bird by Bird or The Tradition of Artists
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...
aobriendvm
Feb 28, 20221 min read
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Ziney Weeney
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...
aobriendvm
Feb 19, 20222 min read
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A Dash of Color
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...
aobriendvm
Jan 29, 20223 min read
12 views
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Probing the Peripheral
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...
aobriendvm
Jan 9, 20222 min read
31 views
0 comments


Lots of Lift
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...
aobriendvm
Dec 29, 20211 min read
9 views
0 comments


Festive Serpents
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...
aobriendvm
Dec 16, 20212 min read
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Apricity
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...
aobriendvm
Nov 19, 20211 min read
9 views
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