thoughts from a freckle-faced pisces
Last weekend I did a volunteer gig at the Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City. It is an annual event in our shopping district made all the more appealing by the perfect fall weather. I met a darling, young family and while the Dad was helping their boys craft some mustaches, I struck up a … Read more
If you saw the room I write in you’d say, “Oh you poor thing, it’s a wonder you can get anything done in there.” It used to be an unfinished room off of our bedroom and over the garage with built-in cabinets (circa 1950s) with linoleum countertops that sparkled gold. I used to keep my … Read more
Early this spring, The Big Daddy and I started doing a three mile walk after dinner. Some dear friends of ours were coming to see us from Cleveland and we were determined to lose some weight and look awesome by the time they came. Because the fitness plan in place for the daughter’s wedding the … Read more
Most Sundays around here there is football playing throughout much of the day. Mark will say that he hardly watches any football and this is true. When he’s asleep. I wander in and out of the room and in and out of the games. I know enough about the sport to follow it, but there … Read more
Before I started A Speckled Trout, I toyed with the idea of making it a home decor blog with cool pictures of our house and projects I’ve done. Then I just started writing stories and it never materialized into that, but once in awhile I tap into the interior decorator in me and want to … Read more
The summer my dad died was a slow and steady march towards the end. I had last seen him in July and when we came back six weeks later his thin, gaunt appearance was so startling to me that any attempt to hide my reaction was surely in vain. By then he was under the … Read more
I took a break from the 50+ section of the Huffington Post on how to look, feel, appear, deny, accept and embrace the midness of my lifeness, and instead read an article about goals and how to achieve them. The piece was inspired by Diana Nyad, the relentless dreamer of the Florida-by-way-of-Cuba-by-way-of- the-freestyle 60-something that … Read more
When I worked at a small boutique, the owner befriended a customer who started an after-school program for Catholic school-age girls on dressing modestly. It was called Pure Fashion. The culmination of the program was a fashion show and the owner would let the girls borrow clothes from our inventory to model. Twice I was … Read more
After a year of the dating life, Mark and his parents invited me to vacation with them at Horsehead Lake in Big Rapids, Michigan. It was a six hour drive from the Chicago suburbs. I packed my shorts and swimsuit, plus a couple of sweatshirts for the cool nights and happily made the trek with … Read more
I will blame my friend, Mary. The friend with the dining room that made my heart fibrillate years ago when I first saw it. Oh, and Pottery Barn. That relentlessly prolific company that sends a catalog of creative mojo once a month that I study like The Beatitudes in 4th grade. Blessed are those who … Read more