Photo stories
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How to dress for the day
“If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” ~Roald Dahl When I wake up crabby and the early-morning headlines are depressing, my first impulse is to spend the day shuffling around in my pajamas — or reach for an icky outfit that shouldn’t be seen in public. (This became a habit for most of us during the quarantine weeks of the pandemic.) I’ve always been a clothes horse, but I used to save all my “nice” clothes for special occasions. One morning, I finally woke up to the fact that every new day is worth celebrating. So I started…
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Living large
“Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine.” ~Marianne Williamson When I was a kid — before the Internet was born — I was told that it was rude to brag or boast in public. In those days, “nice people” stooped to avoid casting a shadow on others, and it was impolite to talk about yourself too much. When I earned good grades or won a contest, for instance, I learned to share the news ever-so-discreetly with the folks closest to me. Or I kept it to myself. Years…
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The right to feel safe?
“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible; to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.” ~Dawna Markova I have tickets to an annual art fair I’ve been looking forward to all year. But for the first time ever, I’m ambivalent about making the trip. The Fourth of July shooting in Highland Park — along with other recent episodes of gun violence — has made me uneasy about attending any sort of large outdoor public event.…
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Silly presents
“A friendship can weather most things, and it can thrive in thin soil. But it needs a little mulch of notes and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often, just to save it from drying out completely.” ~Pamela Brown A few years ago, after a painful surgery on my eyelid for skin cancer, a dear friend brought me a lovely “care package” that touched my heart more than words could express. I’ll never forget the morning she showed up at my door with that gift. That same friend was injured in an accident earlier this week, and as soon as I learned about it, I started shopping for a care package.…
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Travel and adventure
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Now that summer is here, our thoughts turn to road trips and other vacation plans. When I was editor of a country inn travel magazine, I had many opportunities to visit historic sites across this country. And when our son was in his early teens, Doug and I took him on trips to the British Isles and Mediterranean countries. Travel teaches us a lot about ourselves — as well as the world around us. I often discovered that the places I enjoyed most were the charming…
