Summer


A summer garden

A summer garden

Life can be disappointing, difficult, and painful. But also beautiful, joyful, and hopeful. Like my garden. Like this summer.

A summer of resiliency and why I'm still a Christian

A summer of resiliency and why I'm still a Christian

As pandemic spring bleeds into pandemic summer I'm digging deep into my spiritual and emotional reserves, into the knowing I've developed through years of living - that we're going to get through this. It's going to be messy, we're going feel crappy about a lot of things, but we will get through.

Montreal to the Northeast Kingdom

Montreal to the Northeast Kingdom

The Northeast Kingdom is just 2.5 hours from Montreal. It's east of the main spine of the Green Mountain Range. Although the whole state feels like "the green mountains", the Northeast Kindgom, physiographically called the Northeast Highlands, is a more rolling terrain than the mountains to the west.

Vacations on our way to an empty-ish nest

Vacations on our way to an empty-ish nest

Our children are practically adults now and will be choosing for themselves what to do with their leisure time and how to fund that leisure. Whatever they choose, we don't feel a responsibility anymore to keep the gang together and create summer vacation memories.

What counts as vacation, anyway?

What counts as vacation, anyway?

It's taken me many years of adult life to feel comfortable with my own family's version of family vacation, which has been an evolving hybrid of traveling to visit family, camping and backpacking, and working roadtrips.

And then it was summer

And then it was summer

I have been getting what I longed for at the end of May - a break, a rest, a reprieve. And lots of fun.

High Summer ~ The Return of Moxie

High Summer ~ The Return of Moxie

My confidence has returned. I don't feel broken anymore. And at least a majority of the time I feel I have the tools to handle what comes my way. This is a vast improvement from four years ago and from the crippling self-doubt I've experienced with bouts of anxiety since.