“In professional settings,” writes Claire Saffitz of the New York Times this week, “machines called slab rollers in temperature-controlled rooms laminate the dough quickly and effectively, producing light, flaky, uniform croissants. Home bakers, however, must complete these tasks by hand, making it harder, slower and much more variable.”* The article makes me snort. I guess […]
The Disease to Please
Psychic training, violin and fashion design. These are not the academic subjects I’d have chosen for my 13-year-old daughter. But she’s begged, pleaded, found the money, found her teachers and organized to work the lessons in between her writing, farm tours, waiting tables and math lessons. According to my conventional academic upbringing, these courses are […]
The Cold River
There is no easy way to get to the Cold River. This fact grows increasingly plainer to me with each passing year. Backpacking 13-14 miles per day on the Northville-Lake Placid Trail, you’ll get there around day 8. You can pick up the spur trail along Route 28 in Long Lake and hike 13 miles […]
Seven Tips for Thriving While Your Children School @ Home
Nobody asked you. The words rattle in my brain during a slow moment at the cafe as I hide on a corner stool in the back of the kitchen and scroll through the New York Times on my phone. The debate about whether or not to open schools captures my interest. I read an Op […]
Essential Kids
“But how will they learn calculus?” I heard that question repeatedly when we started on our homeschooling journey. It was a pre-corona world, where advanced mastery of math and sciences, expansive extra-curricular involvement and stellar test scores were the necessary recipe for the necessary acceptance at that necessary university, which was supposed to unveil the […]
Shut up and listen.
“So…If he was a she last time I saw him…or her?… And I’m telling a story about that time….Do I call him her, or him?” “I have no idea.” We are sitting in the forest behind the house, leaning back against our favorite boulder, staring up at the blue sky through the branches and leaves. […]
Talking Dogs
“Please. I would like to play catch-peanut.” Kit, our border collie-blue healer cross, stares intently at Ula as she flops down on the couch on the screen porch. Her pointed ears radar themselves at my daughter, as though she can summon special powers through them. “It’s a very excellent game, Ula. I really enjoy playing […]
Belly Buttons & Fairies
“Sooo…..Did your innie become an outie?” Kate’s rocking the maternity farm overalls these days. She’s working on the cafe computer when I come in to start preparing food for the weekend. “Hell yeah!” “It goes back in, right?” I lift my shirt and show her my post-maternity paunch. “Sort of. It just kind of droops […]
Doing well. (?).
“Shannon, please, I would like to have a conversation with you.” Nazgul calls to me from farther back on the path, then hastens to catch up, her slip-on shoes sliding on the slick trail. The airlines have lost her luggage, and this is the 10th day she has had to make do with insufficient clothing […]
Puppies & Kids
Three walks between 3:45 and 5am and still she pees on the rug behind my desk. The newest member of our household is a six-week-old border collie-blue healer cross. Her name is Kit, and daily she reminds me that I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. And yet she’s the third dog in […]
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