Posts under ‘Family’

Oh, Empress of Dirt. You inspired me with your Tipsy Pots. You made me want to be crafty like you. And so I told Steve’s Mom about your cool idea, and she got all excited, and we went in search of plants and pots and something to hold the whole thing up. And we found [...]

I’m a pretty experimental girl. Some might not agree with me, and there are certainly areas where I draw the line (Skydiving: No.) on testing hypotheses, but when it comes to certain things, my philosophy always errs on the side of hell, yeah. And thus, I decided to plant a tomato plant in a hanging [...]

I spent a few days recently in Grand Junction, Colorado visiting my cousin and her two sons. One of them recently turned 11, and the booty he took in from the celebration included a copy of The Wind Waker, part of the Legend of Zelda family of video games. “Genie, and you know what else? [...]

There’s gardening news to share, and also, it’s my Mom’s birthday today (Happy Birthday, Mom!), so I had myriad other plans for today’s installment of gardening fun and frivolity. But one of my legacies from Mom (and from Dad, but it’s not his birthday…) is that I am quick to anger and subsequent action when injustice is [...]

I spent a few days this past week in Grand Junction, Colorado, visiting my cousin and her kids. When I left Iowa City, nothing was blooming here yet, but Grand Junction was a festival of blossoms and color. I found these little blue flowers—I’m not sure what they are, exactly—cuddling the rocks in her side [...]

After the turkey was sliced and eaten, after my family had fought over who got to eat the last bit of stuffing and gravy stashed in plastic containers in the refrigerator, after the Christmas tree had gone up and any remnants of harvest decor gave way to the Advent wreath and manger scenes, the detritus [...]

I had a fabulous plan for Thanksgiving food, and for what we’d eat the days leading up to and leading out of the holiday. The flaw in my plan? I didn’t expect our family members to demand a break from eating during the day. For whatever reason, they didn’t want to eat most minutes of [...]

Earlier this year, I declared my abiding love for sage, and Lydia added a comment about how much she loves to harvest sage on Thanksgiving morning. Lydia, thanks for the tip, because when I cleaned up the rest of the garden, I thought of your advice, and kept the sage plant in its pot, hanging [...]

In August, when I was slow-roasting tomatoes using Kalyn’s fabulous instructions, I already knew we’d be hosting Thanksgiving here in Iowa City. My parents and Steve’s mother and her husband were all planning to join us for a few days of frolic and festivity. We don’t own a dishwasher, so it was also going to [...]

I took this photo of chives in my Dad’s garden back in September. Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in Green Thumb Sunday every week. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.