Precarious pumpkins – and managing our overwhelm.

Precarious Pumpkins and managing our overwhelm. I drove behind a pick-up truck on the freeway today that had its bed CHOCK FULL of pumpkins.  Like really, really full.   Those pumpkins were not tied down or secured and I found myself wanting to pass quickly by.  One bump would have sent one – or many […]

Korean Stairs – and embracing your ‘uneven.’

My sister-in-law, who spent time in Korea during the 1990s doing church service, recently told me something fascinating about how traditional Korean stairs were built. Apparently, construction focused more on function and adaptability than precision. Builders had to work with local materials and uneven ground, often without using standardized tools or measurements. As a result, […]

Levi Strauss & 7 Iterations.

In 1853, a young 24 year old immigrant named Levi Strauss, settled in San Francisco.  According to Kat Olvera, Levi Strauss was born in Germany in 1829 and moved to the East Coast of the United States in 1847, where he began to work for his brothers’ dry-goods business.  Strauss made the move to San […]

A is for Apple – and a few other things.

As a lot of you know, my birthday is on Halloween.  So in my mind, fall activities, festivities, and feasts are often tied to my birthday.  My cute mom, knowing that I didn’t particularly like the scariness of Halloween but knowing that I did like the attention of a birthday, did her very best to […]

Hummingbirds and 4 dimensions of energy.

A few mornings ago, I was taking the garbage out.  I went outside through our garage and when I turned to go back inside, I noticed a bird – or what I thought was a bird – swiftly flying around the ceiling area of the garage.  I quickly realized the creature was a hummingbird.  We […]

Darren’s one of these. Are you?

We just passed the end of the month.  In our house the end of the month comes with comments and discussions that sound like this… “Well, I’ve got 3 days before I know about my month….” Or“I’m 15% over my month…” Or  “It looks like I’m going to hit my month…” Etc.  Darren is a […]

Which kind of self-aware are you?

Several weeks ago I was sitting in a large event arena to witness one of my nephews’ high school graduation.  The arena had steep stadium seating so I had a really good view of a mom trying to keep her toddler quiet in the row in front of me. What finally did the trick was […]

Point Positive and an ancient prophet.

Illustration: Sketchplanations My brother in law Chad is a large, quiet, fearless (really!) man who spent a decade of his adult life as a professional white water river guide.  Besides my sweet mom, he is, in my (very, very large) family, for sure one of the most trusted and trustworthy members.  The majority of us, […]

Those printing brothers from York, England.

Once upon a time there were 5 Gibson brothers from York, England: Robert, Stephen, George, Samuel, and John.  According to Great American Press, they settled in the United States in 1850.  Printing had been the family business, so they “brought with them a French handpress to jump start their new lives and business opportunities in […]

Urgency, Importance, and Springtime.

A little kid education site online called Twinkl describes Spring this way: “Spring is a season of new beginnings, renewal, and growth. As the days get longer and warmer, the world around us starts to come back to life with blooming flowers, chirping birds, and buzzing bees. Spring is a time when we can shed […]