Dishes. Laundry. Vacuuming. Yard work. Coffees. Walks. These are the things that have filled my days in ways that bring me joy. These rituals – the cleaning and folding, the emptying and putting away, the slow catching up – they help keep me focused on what I can manage. There is so much in the world right now that I cannot manage. So I am searching for what is simple and true.
Continue readingAuthor Archives: Taline
Staycation 2020.
Last week was a good one. We hiked Enchanted Rock. We rode the Violet Crown Trail. We explored McKinney Falls. Between the outdoor activity, we had coffees with my dad, I had lunch with my niece, and I managed some workouts on my training program. Then on the weekend, we did a three-day virtual event on the benefits of a whole foods plant-based diet. It was not a week in Colorado (which had been the original plan), but we had a great week.
Continue readingLooking Beyond July.
Like the rest of the world, I’ve been largely at home since the middle of March. I have been a little quiet in this space because everything I wrote felt wrong to me. This might feel wrong too, but I’m saying it anyway.
Continue readingThe Best Sunday.
Yesterday, I had a day I desperately needed. I had a pajama day. I was in pajamas until 1pm. Then I showered and put another pair of pajamas on for the rest of the day. I know that sounds really lazy, but it was actually an incredibly productive day. Continue reading
Getting Ahead of the Head Game.
I’m feeling out of sorts. My schedule has been wonky lately. I haven’t been sleeping well. And now Dave is out of town for a few days. So I am doing what I often do when I’m feeling out of sorts, which is write. Continue reading
Knitting to Relax.
I’ve taken up knitting. In our community, we did a Small Business Saturday event that took me to a cute little yarn store. The colors amazed me. They were so beautiful. My eyes went right to a brown, orange and blue bundle of yarn that I thought would make a beautiful anything. So I bought some yarn and knitting needles and signed up for a beginning class. No, I don’t have a lot of free time, but I do have a lot of stress, and knitting seemed like a nice antidote to that. Continue reading
The Start of the Chase.
I went from a hundred to zero in a matter of seconds. Or that’s how it feels. I was working and scrambling and barely keeping up. Then everything stopped. And I stopped. And I haven’t been able to really get going again. I’m at work, but my mind is elsewhere. I’m getting things done, but nowhere near the volume I was producing over the last few months. It’s weird to still be sitting at my desk but suddenly be so disengaged. Continue reading
A Corpus Tennis Reunion.
Last time I wrote, I was drowning in work. That was my life until today. Today, it all came to a much-welcomed standstill. When that happened, I spent about an hour organizing the piles of paper that had built up on my desk, I made my to-do list for tomorrow, and I came home. When we’re buried, we are buried. When I can pause, I pause. And today, I got to pause. Finally. Continue reading
Where I Am Right Now.
I’m in a busy season at work that feels overwhelming. Yesterday, I was driving home from work and saw a blue FJ Cruiser like mine going through one of those new-fangled intersections that have cars oddly crossing oncoming traffic. (Don’t get me wrong – those intersections work, but the cars continue to spook me as they drive through.) When I saw the blue FJ, I immediately looked at the back to see if it was mine. I can tell based on the stickers on the back windshield. That’s totally normal, right? Except I was driving my car. I was in my blue FJ, so why was I even contemplating the possibility that this other car could be mine? I’m that tired, I guess.
A Tuesday Funeral.
It’s a weird thing to attend a funeral of a young person. Young is relative, of course. In this instance, young is not much older than I am. Young is the parent of not-yet-teenagers. Young is that weird place between being an adult and having a family of one’s own, but still very much being daughter and sister first or at least in equal force to wife and mom. It might have been a sad time in that space, and maybe it should have been under the circumstances. But what I heard and felt seemed full of certainty and faith. Continue reading
It Started With Coeur d'Alene 