My year in pictures … briefly

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My year in pictures … briefly

The end of 2023 has arrived, so time for an abundance of year in review pieces and posts all around the blogosphere and beyond.

Naturally, I have mine to add.

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Since I last wrote

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Since I last wrote

Hello friends!

I hope everyone is well and enjoying fall, my favorite time of year.

Since I last wrote, a fair amount of this and that has happened for my family and me.

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Home Happenings: October 2022

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Home Happenings: October 2022

Looking back, October marks the most mellow month of the 2022 for me. At least in terms of getting out and about. Our typically wild and crazy Callie had ACL surgery — technically CCL in dogs — near the end of September, which meant she had to lay low and go slow, rendering us pretty much homebound for most of October.

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Rockin' PawDad's party

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Rockin' PawDad's party

The recent weekend in which my family was all together—a relatively uncommon occurrence even in the best of times—featured not only Robert’s baptism, as I previously shared, but a milestone birthday celebration, too. That milestone being Jim’s sixtieth birthday.

The birthday festivities, organized primarily by Megan, revolved around a rockin’ theme as …

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Ideal backdrop

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Ideal backdrop

Ideal backdrop

Last week I shared with you some of the reasons I love the look of fall right outside my back door.

Over the weekend, I discovered another reason: It’s the ideal autumn backdrop for my goofy daughter Andrea and her equally goofy hubby, Allen, to pose for silly shots during a special birthday celebration (more on that to come).

Their attitude inspires me to approach the new week in a similarly carefree way. I hope sharing the shots does the same for you.

Plus … GRAND Social No. 411 link party for grandparents

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School papers and similarly sentimental stuff

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School papers and similarly sentimental stuff

During my daughters’ school years, I kept all the papers and projects they brought home from school. Everything. Spelling tests, stories, handwriting practice (they did that back then), certificates earned for field day and perfect attendance, report cards for each quarter of each year.

I kept it all. Times three. All in cardboard boxes in a storage space beneath the house we lived in for the duration of the girls’ school years. Lots of …

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How Benjamin rolls!

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How Benjamin rolls!

How Benjamin rolls!

Saturday was Jim’s birthday, and Brianna and Patrick arranged a family gathering at a new burger spot in town in recognition of burgers being Jim’s forever favorite food.

It was great to have all our local immediate family in attendance.

Kudos to Tyler for managing to get a shot that included everyone at the table!

While we were all gathered together to celebrate Jim, we soon were raucously regaling Benjamin for a milestone move made right before our eyes.

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Grandma Christmas crafts matter

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Grandma Christmas crafts matter

The year my husband and I were married, his stepmom, Diane, whom I had never met and Jim hadn’t seen in years, sent us a lovely joint Christmas stocking she had made for us. She also sent an adorable handmade one for baby Brianna, who was born soon after we married.

Diane sent another precious stocking the following year, when Megan was born. And another two years after that for our baby Andie.

When Megan and Preston married and…

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Grand greetings!

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Grand greetings!

Grand greetings!

When my daughter Megan sends out her annual Christmas cards, she typically catches up on sharing photos of Brayden, Camden, and Declan she’s not gotten around to sending earlier in the year. Sweet stuff like these school pictures and sports shots enclosed with this year’s card:

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Flashback: Everyday inspiration

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Flashback: Everyday inspiration

I'm not a world-traveler who finds inspiration in ancient ruins, artful masterpieces, or in architectural—or natural—wonders.

I'm also not one of the fortunate few privileged to find inspiration in luculent discourse with the likes of Maya Angelou or other great orators of our time. (Although I have heard in person the likes of Kurt Vonnegut. And David Sedaris. More than once.)

No, I don't get my inspiration from such high-brow—and high-cost—pleasures. Yet.

Instead, I find inspiration—the impetus to be bigger, better, and more than I am—in everyday things. Things such as…

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