And another adventure begins…KarseCoteHowm

Well, they don’t call me the wandering Jew for lack of a reason, but I’m putting down tentative roots once more.  I bought a house.  I’ll try not to burden my mind with calling it my ‘forever’ home, as I did once before when I found a little slice of heaven – making it like…

Fifteen minutes ago

Fifteen minutes ago It was that day. The day I flew. The day I decided not to counteroffer on a house I really liked. The day I last heard “I love you so much.” The day I last shared a newspaper with anyone. I wonder when this day’s awareness will fade from my brain. When…

Notes from an RV Park

It has been a stretch of interesting days.  I’m not certain how my life always seems to amble along like a comedy, but it does most of the time. It could be that I am just silly 🙂 I ran up against a wall this week that I’ve not encountered ever I don’t think, since…

And so it begins…

I did it!  I am now the owner of a rolling version of a tiny house.  Well, me and the credit union 🙂 And yes, I drove it, adrenaline inducing event that was. I’m scheduled for a full driving course prior to taking actual delivery, after it goes through its bells and whistles review and…

Who are you and what have you done with my Mother?

I can tell you first hand that widowhood sucks.  Just like when you marry, you learn to blend, compromise and bend to fit into a pair and it is a little awkward – stops, starts, spills, so too, is widowhood.  In a culture that practically elevates partnership to sainthood status, suddenly finding oneself pulling in…

36 hours upright, 3 hours of sleep, rough weather = goofy chick

Ensconced back in the micro-haus in balmy weather, last week feels like it passed in some kind of dream form. I’m pretty bone-weary in all honesty.  It was a very emotional trip, in both good and bad ways, thanks to incredible friends. The roughshod road trip was to pick up venison on another person’s timeline.…

At 13 degrees, don’t touch the iced tent sides!

This experience, while considered by many to be slightly insane, is very educational for me. It is an opportunity to learn while learning is optional and not mandatory, or driven by necessity. I’ve known too many people relegated to a lifestyle they didn’t anticipate with no foreknowledge, myself included. The saving grace in my sleeping…

Hitchhiking ghosts on road trips

I have made this run up 75 North so many times I should be able to do it in my sleep, but this is the first time in ten years I finally did it without taking a printed map. I’m directionally challenged in many ways and so I often don’t trust myself.  But in the…

Music, Moving and Mayhem

Briefly dipping my pinkie toe in the blogging world for a moment as the mayhem in my life mounts! First, on moving: I was |this| close to securing a tiny rental house; well, tiny for most standards.  It is more than 4x the size of where I live now.  But, you have to be poised…

Work-Life Balance or How Not to Collapse in a Heap

As you may (or, may not) have noticed, I’ve pretty much been MIA except for a couple of automatic posts I set up last weekend in a five minute period of calm.  That title up there…do you recall when it even entered our lingo? Work-Life Balance. Work used to be something you did between 8-5…

Floundering for Words

I always have words.  Words to write, words to say when given a chance.  And I am full of them now too – well, thoughts actually would be more accurate. What does one write on a death anniversary, when writing is simply what one does? Does it make others uncomfortable? I don’t know too many…

Free Flow

It is no mystery to those close to me that this is a difficult time.  What follows is simply another free flow writing I did, similar to “Skin Tight” a few months ago. ****************************** It is trying to try, try and try again. It wearies and robs the soul of happiness that it is its…

Thankful Thoughts

 Photo Credit: BoredPanda.org    “The Book of Life” – Artist David Kracov If I had a lot of money, I would so purchase this piece of sculpture. It is metal, and each butterfly is hand-painted. The book contains diary pages, poetry and notes written by the children of Auschwitz. I find it haunting and incredibly…

A day of silence and fullness

I don’t have much to say today really.  If you’ve a mind, I ask you to visit my poetry site here: She Doesn’t Mourn Well Life is for the living, but sometimes living is harder than you expect. To those who have helped me along the way, my gratitude is truly inexpressible even for me…

7.31.14 Thursday Tale Tellers Tattle – Newbie Rec’s

I read a lot of blogs each week.  Some weeks more than usual, other weeks far less.  I DO have to sleep sometime 🙂 I’ll drop by Community Pool on the weekends sometimes to catch newcomers and provide feedback. All of us write for a reason, but the reasons vary.  Pain and loss, self-discovery, because…

7.27.14 Sunday Snippets

Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~ Hans Christian Anderson Things on my writing mind… 1. Good gawd, could anyone come up with more things that women are ‘supposed’ to be? Badass. Baker. Power Executive. Mom. Construction supervisor. Submissive wife. Activist. Feminist. I get tired reading about…

Cloudburst

Some days you have retrograde reflections, instead of retrograde amnesia.  Small insights of what things were back some other time.  We always think of what it is like to live with another, knowing their thoughts, their faults, habits good and bad.  Rarely do we look at what it is like to live with us; how it…

Life Snapshot

Today is Shabbat.  A time free of work world constraints.  Time to absorb beauty, reflect beauty and warmth, radiate that back to others.  A time for thinking, for being. A time for giving thanks.  I smell like the woods, having finally finished my sun-steeping of a new body oil I created, scented with vetiver, peru…

7.11.14 Friday Frivolous Foolishness

Woohoo, the weekend is nigh!  Amazing that we get so excited about these things, isn’t it? As I always say, it’s the little things 🙂 Humor, it comes in all forms.  I was introduced to a very funny guy via a friend, but I warn ya, the language is not tame, for those of you…

The Birthday Hike – Finale

Can you tell I’m stringing this along just have another excuse to take these memories  out and immerse in them again 🙂  I hope you don’t mind humoring me in it. It is difficult to tear myself away from the old homestead and all of its treasures and imaginings. But I hear the wild turkeys…

On widowhood, anniversaries, and nurturing joy

I’ve not focused much on being a widow over the time that I have been writing; yet, that is really the entire back-story of this blog, documenting my life after widowhood – the thoughts, struggles, effects and the imprint that difficult things leave upon a person.  I’ve never told here the story of how I…

Reviewing the year and looking forward

As I have matured (don’t laugh, just…dont!), I try to reflect on a regular basis, examining events and thoughts, trying to gain more insight into things and to make wiser choices when new ones come along. Since 2009 when my husband died, I’ve had some rough times – but also some good times.  Friendships have…

Frustrations ‘R Us, Or Healing and Living Single

After fulfilling my ‘waiting’ period of the summer (for nought I might add), I’m just full of frustrations in arenas I didn’t even know that I had. So this will be a bit of an angsty post, and probably not as optimistic as usual, because well, I don’t feel very optimistic at the moment (maybe…