As my checklists and to-do lists for the farm, writing, and life in general continually grow, I realize that a quote I recently stumbled upon could not be more true many weeks…“my best fiction writing is my daily to-do list.” If you need a little distraction from your own to-do lists that may not have gotten checked off this week, enjoy my favorite procrastination links from around the web…
Read moreLinda Bleck's Farm Map
Shortly after my husband and I closed the deal on our new farm, we saw an Instagram post from our friend, artist Linda Bleck. She had just completed an illustrative map of Whitnall Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as part of the Milwaukee County “Parks for Good” fundraiser. My husband was intrigued. To him, Linda’s map looked vintage, like an illustration in a third grade social studies book. He loved the feel of nostalgia her map conveyed.
To his giant to-do list for the farm, which included check chicken butts he added: commission Linda Bleck to draw a farm map.
Read moreProcrastination Links 01.24.20
It’s hard to believe that I’m starting my seventh year as a blogger! For a recap on the state of the blog, visit my most recent blog post. I’m looking forward to sharing some new photos of the farm later this month on the blog. In the meantime, I’m enjoying winter on the farm and awaiting the next round of snow. If you need a little break, check out my favorite links from around the web this week…
Read moreState of the Blog: Year Six
As I commence my seventh year as a blogger, this is my annual accounting of what you loved, what made you laugh, what you ignored, and what comes next.
Yesterday, I looked at my Google analytics and am very pleased to announce that my blog post about syphilis is no longer #1 in traffic. Yes, I’ve been cured! And can you guess how?
Read moreProcrastination Links 01.10.20
Happy New Year! After a busy December filled with holiday cheer and farm renovations, I’m happy to be back to the blog. Check out how I’ve been procrastinating this week with some of my favorite links from around the web…
Read moreA Few Book Recommendations for a Short Attention Span
Have you noticed a change in your reading habits? Do you read less? Do you struggle to become immersed in a book?
It’s a real problem, this sad decline in an ability to concentrate while reading.
Is it laziness? Are our brains a muscle that’s gone flabby? It takes so little effort to turn on Netflix and hang out with Walter White, Daenerys Targaryen, Don Draper, Mrs. Maisel, their rich visual worlds coming to us fully formed, requiring nothing of our own imagination, only a pair of eyeballs and minimal consciousness.
Read moreProcrastination Links 12.06.19
If you need a little break after the festivities of Thanksgiving and hunting for sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, check out my favorite procrastination links from around the web this week…
Read moreProcrastination Links 11.22.19
I heard recently about a neighbor who donned her Ugg boots for the first time this "winter" to make the trek to the road with her garbage cans. She could feel a sock in the toe of one boot, which she figured she had left behind last March. After the long walk down the driveway and back again, she took off her Uggs and shook the one boot hard to dislodge the sock. Only it wasn't a sock. It was a mouse that she had squished to death with her toes.
Who do you feel more sorry for? The mouse or the woman with the murderous toes? You can email me back with your answer. I'm not judging!
The only reason I'm sharing this anecdote is because you all loved my last blog post about my mouse problem. (If you missed it, click here. It's a good one!)
And, if you need a little break as you prepare your Thanksgiving festivities, check out my favorite links from around the web this week…
Read moreChicken Stories
We are four months in at the farm and the story so far is that we love the chickens best. The old farmhouse is cozy. The landscape and gardens change by the hour. And the glass house patiently awaits its appointment at the beauty parlor next summer. But the chickens. They are getting to know us and we them. And all parties are pleased. It’s like an arranged marriage where the couple actually falls in love.
Read moreProcrastination Links 11.08.19
Check out my favorite procrastination links from around the web this week…
Read moreIf You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Have you heard of Fika? It is a Swedish tradition, taught to me by my daughter-in-law, where you take a break from work to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, a little tidbit, and conversation. I love this observance, especially because my former favorite ritual of a glass of wine in the evening is forbidden. (You can read about my sober life here.)
Anyway, I was out at the farm one sunny afternoon in July, getting my Fika on with a cup of darjeeling and a cookie, watching a hen out the window.
Read moreProcrastination Links 10.14.19
The crisp fall air has me looking forward to the Halloween festivities soon to come. In the meantime, I’m enjoying these beautiful fall days at the farm. If you need a little break this week, check out my favorite procrastination links from around the web…
Read moreThe Heart and Soul of a Printer's Row Loft
Meet our old pals Mike and Harlene. After raising three kids in the Chicago suburbs, they sold their house, donated their kids’ old toys, divested themselves of lawnmowers and snow shovels, and moved to a sixth-story loft in Printer’s Row a few blocks from Mike’s office. They carry up their groceries via a creaky old double-doored elevator. They pay closer attention to the forecast because they walk everywhere. It’s a fresh start, this urban adventure.
Read moreProcrastination Links 10.01.19
It’s hard to believe October is here! I’m looking forward to all of the fall fun that is to come. If you need a little break this week, check out my favorite procrastination links from around the web…
Read moreA Glass House and Plenty of Stones
Welcome to the glass house. This 150-foot building, circa early 1900s, is one of our biggest challenges at the farm. The glass is single-paned, uninsulated, fragile, and so dirty, it may as well be wallpaper. The painted wood is peeling and moss-covered, but underneath is solid redwood, still as hard and intact as the day it was milled. We don’t know what to do with the structure. Every visitor who enters through one of its four doors falls instantly in love and urges us to rehab. Every tradesman who has been asked to submit a bid assures us he would relish the chance to work on it, but he cannot predict the costs. “You know,” my friend Patrick says, “restoration means they take a shop vac to your wallet.”
Read moreProcrastination Links 09.16.19
We took a little break from the farm this past weekend. While the momentary reprieve from manual labor felt good, we’re looking forward to everything fall will bring at the farm (minus the mice, of course). If you need a little break this week, check out my favorite procrastination links from around the web…
Read moreBetty's Picnic
Let me introduce you to the Bettys. We are four friends who, many years ago while getting squiffed together, decided to call each other ‘Betty.’ We are the founding Bettys and if you hang out with us, you are an honorary Betty.
Yes, I know. A very youthful constraint, to name ourselves after hot skater girls. But in our defense, we had just put on the middle school carnival. I challenge you to spend six hours in a gym with two hundred tweens without reverting to those vapid days.
Read moreProcrastination Links 08.26.19
It’s a rain-soaked, soggy day in Wisconsin, and I’m thrilled to finally have an excuse to take a day off from weeding. I know the rain will only bring more weeds, but a day off is not a bad thing. I hope you take a break to enjoy my favorite procrastination links from around the web this week…
Read moreA Peek at Our First Week on the Farm
Do we look like two soldiers in the pic above? We are settling into a workflow now. There’s Atticus who loves freeing things like trees encircled in wire, limestone paths covered in dirt, or fieldstone fences drowning in hostas. He wants to see progress now, dammit, now. There’s Walter who won’t let anyone weed anything because of medicinal properties and nutrients. Stinging nettle can cure blah blah blah and purslane tastes delicious with blah blah blah. There’s my nephew Graham who loves the slash and burn approach. He has sharpened the antique tools hanging on the walls of the chicken coop and if I don’t keep a close watch, the 40-year-old tamarack pine will be pruned into a telephone pole in an afternoon. There’s Nick who is painting chickens and Jane who pets chickens and Liz who names chickens and George who says chickens are dicks.
Read moreProcrastination Links 08.12.19
I hope all of you gardeners are reaping the delicious rewards of your hard work, and that the rest of you are hitting your local farmers’ markets for the vegetables that abound this time of year. While you are eating the rainbow, take a break and check out my favorite links from around the web this week…
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