This is the second year for the Road2VA Quilt show being held in Richmond, Virginia from June 24-27. I was fortunate to attend last year’s inaugural show, a cousin to the West Coast’s Road2California that has been around for over three decades, and also attended this years’ show as well. The California show continues to draw thousands of fiber art enthusiasts, and the East Coast expansion in Richmond is growing by leaps and bounds. There is interest in having this type of lar

I learned a valuable lesson on packing during my France Trip… Are you traveling this summer? Do you struggle to “pack light” like me? If you’re traveling by car, you can practically take anything. Flying, especially internationally, turns packing into a puzzle. Not all airplanes accommodate the same size carry-on luggage. We like to think planes are fairly similar, but I’ve come to discover that size really does matter. Some aircraft are specific to certain airlines, too. Car

It's been over a week since we got home from our epic trip to France. The jet lag is gone (it was for me after two days), but catching up with life back home has taken some time. I've been writing France stories in my mind, and plan to get a few out soon. One thing about the trip, or should I say once I got home, was how impressed I was that I wore almost everything in my suitcase. That's a big deal to me since I don't want to waste the precious real estate in a smallish roll

Hubby Bill is hard a work writing a book that he plans on publishing “soon” called the same title of this post, “The Gentle Advantage.” It basically means that The Gentle Advantage is a lifestyle, taking it easy in most things in life like adopting a gentler mindset. Bringing kindness and offering help to others in this world is the spirit of The Gentle Advantage. Today, we noticed, this also can be used for our furry friends. When there is a name for what you may see and exp

Hubby Bill and I have had the time of our lives over the last 39 years of marriage. We’ve managed through the good times and not so good times, a testament to our commitment to each other. When we said our I do’s on June 13, 1987, on a sunny and brilliant day in Cleveland, Ohio, we never knew where life would take us. No one does. But, we had fortitude, zeal, and a will to keep our love alive as best we could no matter what. Those vows were not lost on us. Over the last few w

It’s our last night in the South of France! 🇫🇷 spending the night in Marseilles (an airport hotel). Did you know that the Best Western here is really very nice? The food too! Everything so delicious 😋. I can’t believe three weeks went by in a flash, especially the last week on the retreat for writers. My tender heart is filled with gratitude and tremendous joy to spend quality time with amazing humans! From the outdoor dinners, Pont du Gard, the writing with others that he

We are finally here at the retreat for writers in the beautiful Cevennes, about an hour north of Nîmes. All writers from the US, France, and The Netherlands arrived yesterday late afternoon, just in time for aperitifs on one of the many cobblestone decks of this private home built in the 16th century. The Cevennes is a peaceful haven of small villages and hamlets nestled amoung wild forests, rivers, farmer’s markets and wineries. It’s really a hidden secret here in the South

May 31, 2026 Adventure awaits around every corner here in Nîmes. Plus, the surrounding areas are under lots of Roman influence, infrastructure, and ingenuity that is rarely seen anywhere else, except Italy, and, I’m thinking, Greece (haven’t been to Greece…yet). I can’t get enough of how different many things are in these small towns sandwiched between rolling olive groves and large and small vineyards cascading down various sized fields and hills. Exploring worlds that are

It’s T-1 day until Bill and I head to the Cevennes for a Retreat for Writers. The folks we have been hanging out with in Nîmes the past week (and the past few days with Bill in town) are going too. We will all meet up with about a dozen more folks, most coming in from the USA and Spain tomorrow afternoon. The days are flying by, and I am happy to report that I am taking advantage of the light, the glorious light, from a little after 6 am to 9:15 pm. No wonder why all those im

May 28 Hubby Bill asked me if I would pick him up at the Marseilles, France, Airport upon his arrival from Washington D. C. (Dulles Airport), as he thought navigating the gymnastics of local travel may get the best of him upon his arrival. He is practically correct. “Of course,” I slyly replied after we made plans to come back to the South of France for the Retreat for Writer’s, hosted by Akimbo Alum, Cindy Villanueva, and PS’er and Akimbo Alumna, Diane Osgood. This is the th