YAY! Summer is here in full regalia - HEAT! Plus we turned the page on a new month - we've got half of 2026 done and in the books! Time is moving at warp speed, don't you think? It’s crazy being outside with the intense heat. In the house, I’ve got all the fans operating at almost full speed to keep the cool air down. However, I love the heat, just not the humidity and heat, which is what we’ve got now. I hope to swim some laps later today. Cool myself off a bit. I love that

This post may be similar to others I wrote a few weeks ago. However, this time I was able to reflect on and process what I experienced just a little more deeply. I am grateful beyond measure. “ Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men (and I’m adding women) and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. ” –

It’s such a treat to meet up with Akimbo Alumni (the original, that is), as I did today with Betsy Bowen. We met in WIC (Seth Godin/Kristin Hatcher’s Writing in Community), as many of our writing friends did back in 2020 and beyond. We didn’t know what we were doing, though publishing a book was the premise of WIC. Kind of like, “the blind leading the blind.” I found out then that writers are good people, like quilters. So, it was Betsy who hosted me and my friend, Jodie,in

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