We are living in a time of in-between—the time before COVID, and the time after COVID. We are still waiting, holding our breath, easing into an uncertain world where things look and feel different than the before-time. When someone asks us, “What did you do these last fifteen months?” and we ... Read More >>
Letters from the Coop
Letters from the Coop
A place for all wacky and wonderful things about autism, kids, family, books, and this crazy thing we call life.
The Girls
A friend recently gave me a copy of a newspaper article titled, The Girls, by Ann Hood. Hood reminisced about her mother’s loyal group of women friends that for decades, had gathered in one another’s home every Friday night to eat dinner, gossip, and play cards. These women were prickly and rough ... Read More >>
What is Normal?
How are you, dear? It’s been so long since we’ve spoken. I know you say you are fine…but how are you, really? Our world has been upside down for so long now that the days are slipping into weeks and the weeks have turned into months and the months have become seasons and the four walls of ... Read More >>
A Love Note to Mother Nature
My husband likes to get dirt under his fingernails. It’s in his DNA. Last night I found him outside on his hands and knees uprooting the few plants in our garden that had survived our wet winter weather. “You will get better light here,” he said to a clump of strawberry plants before dropping ... Read More >>
These are the Days
I write and enjoy breakfast with a small group of women each Wednesday morning. Now that we are all staying in our homes as the world turns upside down, we meet over Zoom so we can see one another's faces and feel connected. We usually do a couple of very short, 5-8 minute writing prompts and share ... Read More >>
The Grace of Autumn
Autumn executed a hostile takeover in Seattle this year. One September afternoon my family was enjoying a sunny picnic at one of the many lakes around the city, and the next we were enveloped in a heavy marine layer that blew in from the Pacific and parked itself at the foothills of the Cascade ... Read More >>
The Happiness Quotient
I recently watched a documentary on Amazon Prime Video called: Happy. It featured real-life stories of people around the world who, despite their circumstances, live happy lives. Something about the ideas presented in the show lingered in my thoughts for days. If happiness depends on our lives ... Read More >>