Surprises

Chop Wood, Carry Water

April 20, 2013 Kitchen Gardening

I’m a late convert to a pleasure that many people probably discover much earlier in their lives — the joy of a job well done. And by job, I don’t mean my day job, or any kind of pushing-paper (virtually) endeavor. I mean labor of the “chop wood, carry water” variety — useful physical labor. [...]

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Time Flies

April 12, 2013 Nature

Remember that nest, and those eggs, belonging to the bird family residing in our garage? Well, after our weekend away, more eggs appeared. And, not long thereafter, we began to see the mother and father bird bringing in bugs for these little baldies… (click on any of these pics to take a closer look) And [...]

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Seeing The Beauty Around You

November 16, 2012 Media

One of the joys of living in New York was the people watching. Maybe you try to be subtle about it, but, if you’re not looking at the masses of people you pass every day — wondering about where they’re from, what their lives are like, about the relationships between them, and what they value [...]

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Alternative Living Spaces: School Bus

January 5, 2012 Alternative Living Spaces

I’ve written before about folks adopting untraditional living situations to find balance in their lives. Here’s another interesting example: an Austin couple who deliberately lives in a renovated school bus called “Rosie,” which is parked in a friend’s back yard. (Pictures)

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That Tingling Feeling

February 7, 2011 Austin

They talked about it for days, and I refused to believe it. So many times, especially here in Texas, it’s predicted, but fails to materialize. The weather forecasters get you dreaming of snow angels and snowball fights, but what you get is wet, or just cold. Last Friday, the elements delivered the goods. I walked [...]

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Different

January 2, 2011 Current Affairs

On New Year’s Day morning, I wanted to make our breakfast special, so I pulled out the frozen package of pastured bacon I’d gotten in December at the Sassy Pea Market. Little did I know I was in for a surprise. Instead of the thin-sliced, salty, deliciousness I was accustomed to buying a the grocery [...]

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The Best Gift

December 18, 2010 Family

SWAGG is a free mobile app (download here) that lets you shop smarter using your mobile phone. Buy, send or swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your old school plastic gift cards. For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), up to [...]

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Beauty – And the Appreciation of It

April 8, 2008 Current Affairs

My colleague Bill Brazell turned me on to this amazing Pulitzer Prize-winning piece from the Washington Post. It starts with a very simple premise — what would happen if a world-class violinist posed as a street musician in the D.C. Metro? — and manages to explore profound questions of beauty and priorities. The bit that [...]

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