The Sleeping Bear Dunes: A Knitted Journey

Toes in the

 Toes in the photo for scale.  Inspired by this most beautiful place that I visited in May.  From the dense forests full of ferns and white trillium in full bloom to the endless dunes of sand with fascinating trees, grasses, and plants.  The small shells and rocks I found by the shore.  The Point Betsie Lighthouse.  The multi-layered Lake Michigan of hundreds of shades of teal, turquoise, and sapphire.  The most dramatic sunsets off the edge of the shore...

Here is my Sleeping Bear Dunes Knitted Journey:

My Recipe for Happy

When Jonathan asked me to write a guest post for him, I was more than happy to do so. I absolutely love Jonathan’s blog, and while I enjoy his unique recipes, the real reason I follow him year after year is his personal posts. He has a positive way of approaching life, and always shares wisdom and insights that apply to my life as well.

Reconnection: Never Too Soon

In less than five hours, I will be on a plane to the Philippines.  It's astounding even just typing those words, that reality - that decision that I made earlier this year.  You may be thinking, "So soon?  Weren't you just there like a year ago, Jonathan?"  And the answer would be, "Yes."  But as I enter the final leg of 2013, and I reflect on the several experiences of  loss that have been the seemingly dark thread holding everything together, the importance of family, of connection, and capitalizing on the moments that pass us by so quickly and often before we know it, are lessons that have not been lost on me.

Gluten-Free & Vegan Fruit Galettes: Not Your Everyday Pie

Ahhhh...pie.  There are few other foods that can invoke such nostalgia and feelings of comfort.  Cherry pie used to be my hands-down favorite, and I would often turn my nose up at the pumpkin, apple, blueberry, or custard type varieties (which did not mean that I did not eat them, mind you).  I would look for it at every party, in every diner dessert display case, and Hostess cherry pies were a conveniently handheld guilty pleasure at every gas station stop.  But, like so many other foods that weighed heavy in my "life before listening" (i.e., the decades before discovering my gluten allergy), reforming my diet included eliminating those as an option.  Not that pie was no longer an option - it was more the excess sugar, the fat, the artificial colors, the preservatives, and the filling the void within with meaningless calories.  So, needless to say, it's been a long time since I've had pie.

Looking Beyond

"It's not who you are that holds you back.

It's who you think you're not."

- Denis Waitley

This quote first entered my consciousness last Friday, told to me by a fellow actor in my current production.  We were discussing the first half, the fact that we knew there was at least one reviewer in the audience, and how knowing that fact inevitably alters the cast dynamic.  The pressure to be somehow "better" than we normally are, the pressure to drive home the intention behind our words, the pressure to hit all our marks and be perfect.  No matter how counterproductive we know that pressure to be, it creeps in all the same.  And so this quote could not have come at a better time.