My daughter, our new puppy, Mr. Bean and I went a road trip last weekend to the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. What an amazing organization! It truly is a sanctuary for hundreds of animals that have endured indignity and suffering for the greater part of their lives. On the sunny... Continue reading

Breakfastime isn't my finest hour of the day. In fact, sometimes it's all I can do to just be civil. Three kids, two bus runs, breakfasts, lunches, chicken care and today I'm bringing home a puppy. Hello Mr. Bean! In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess. But,... Continue reading

I'm experimenting with lentil loaves for an upcoming vegan cooking class focused on holiday meals. I'm pretty dang delighted with the way this one turned out. It's got a whole bunch of flavor and texture going on. Lentils, pecans, shitake mushrooms...with a maple, balsamic glaze. Yum! But, as we all... Continue reading

September is my January. Its the time of year that I feel change deep in the marrow of my bones. One glorius fall day, as I watched the trees blooming into an impossible fireworks display of crimson, yellow ocher, olive and persimmon, I decided to dedicate myself to a new... Continue reading

My sixteen year old son recently confessed to me, with some trepidation, that he thought he might be an aetheist. He added that he was reserving a small space for the slim possibility that everything is evolving according to an intelligent plan. Otherwise, he mused, it all seemed like random... Continue reading

I was a brand new yoga teacher. I couldn't have taught more than half a dozen classes. And it happened. A strikingly beautiful woman came into the studio. She was tall and lithe with long, red hair. She told me she wanted to work on inversions. My palms got a... Continue reading

It's the day before Mother's Day, a Saturday, about 6:30 am. I'm awakened to my 5 year old son's gleeful proclamation, "HAPPPY MOTHER'S DAY!" Before I can tell him he's a day early, he yells, "SHUT YOUR EYES!" Considering I've only barely managed to pry them open, I gladly oblige.... Continue reading

The first verse of the Bhagavad Gita, an epic tale about the transformative power of love, is spoken by the malevolent, blind king, Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashra is literally blind. He cannot see. He cannot discern even light from dark. In the translation that I am reading* it is explained that Dhritarashtra... Continue reading

The first step, they say, is admitting you have a problem. Every spring I decide that this will be the year I get clean. Really clean. This will be the year I quit this obsession of mine that has made my life unmanageable. I'll just quit it cold turkey. I... Continue reading

I'm standing in the check-out lane at the grocery store, idly eying the rack of star gossip magazines. Did you know that Jennifer Anniston is pregnant with her ex-lovers twins and secretly texting her woes to Brad? Meanwhile, Demi Moore has checked herself into rehab and Ashton Kutchner has already... Continue reading

Statistically, women live longer than men. And I have a theory as to why this is true. Around the world, women do the yeoman's share of the cooking. And around the world, women do that cooking together. If you've ever had the good fortune of working in a kitchen with... Continue reading

Change is scary. Let's be honest. Traveling the same path, day in and day out, even with its infinite discoveries and slight variations, can be comforting. Deciding to take a hard left turn where you normally go right drops you smack dab in the middle of the unknown. Recently, I... Continue reading

We moved to the country to escape the sounds of the city. When I say "city", I am referring to a sizable community pushing the edge of 35,000 people. Our dear friends who actually live in THE city would visit us there and poke good-natured fun at me. "I've got... Continue reading

We moved to the country to escape the sounds of the city. When I say "city", I am referring to a sizable community pushing the edge of 35,000 people. Our dear friends who actually live in THE city would visit us there and poke good-natured fun at me. "I've got... Continue reading

I met my friend, Susie, for breakfast recently to commemorate my 46th birthday. Sitting in the blue, plastic booth, I spent a little time taking mental stock of my life. And I like it. Don't get me wrong. I still carry the weight of getting to the bottom of the... Continue reading

As a foodie, you will definitely understand what I am about to tell you. As a ketchup lover, you may not. My husband, bless him, puts ketchup on everything that doesn't come with a sauce. In all fairness, he was upfront about his ketchup addiction before I married him, openly... Continue reading

This year the youngest of my children went off to school. Monday through friday. Nine to three. Let me tell you first of all, that I was in these same shoes seven years go when my, now, middle child embarked on her full time academic career pasting things together and... Continue reading