by paige on February 7, 2010
RAISE A CUPCAKE today to Laura Ingalls Wilder, memoirist and chronicler extraordinaire. Her Little House books were a staple of my childhood (and probably yours) and, I’m pleased to report, my own little Rock and River love her, too, giving me license to continue to indulge my Ingalls fixation well into adulthood. Though Laura has no living direct descendants, I think it’s not too hyperbolic to say that she’s a part of every family who ever read her tale–and that’s a lot of us. So, wish a happy birthday to Sister Laura, and be sure to read all about The Little House Cookbook!)
by paige on February 4, 2010
BRRR. BLECCH. IT’S FEBRUARY. In college, this meant something called “Feb Club,” an organized party every single night of the year’s bleakest, longest-feeling month. In real life, this means a search for escape–virtual, if not real. [click to continue…]
by paige on January 29, 2010
THIS IS IT, dear sisters. It’s now or never. Do or die. What’s so urgent? Read on. [click to continue…]
by paige on January 27, 2010
THANKS TO MARION, I’m facing a challenge this week: to put together my own personal playlist, a measuring out of my life in coffeehouse tunes, if you will. This isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. Nowadays, I am so easily distracted by children, my own thoughts, and the details of life, that I forget that turning on music will make it all a bit easier. But when I was young, I operated with a constant soundtrack. [click to continue…]
by paige on January 20, 2010
SNOW DAYS AND CABIN FEVER have set in at my house, along with, I fear, the flu. Instead of feeling trapped, I am determined to embrace my short-term life as a shut-in…and clean out the basement. What, you may be wondering, does this have to do with you? Or that pretty cookbook up above? Read on, dear sisters, read on. [click to continue…]
by paige on January 20, 2010
WHILE THAT PATRICIAN gentleman above may not look like Dr. Spock or Dr. Sears, he was way ahead of his time when it came to advice for moms and dads. He’s Henry James, the august novelist, and if I had only had the sense to follow his rules, I wouldn’t have ended yesterday evening by yelling at my daughter…to stop yelling. [click to continue…]
by paige on January 15, 2010
I WROTE BEFORE OF MY DECEMBER VOW to do a little more, err, shaking of my booty. I’ve kept it up, save during “vacation,” when I was without childcare (or school). Now that school’s back in session (thank heavens), I’m back at the gym, dancing up a storm. But this isn’t your ordinary cardio class. [click to continue…]
by paige on January 13, 2010
IT’S ALL ABOUT the music, folks. At least that’s what my charming children would like me to believe. [click to continue…]
by paige on January 11, 2010
READING MICHAEL POLLAN’S The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which argues convincingly for eating food grown and produced locally, while simultaneously trying to pare down your family’s food budget, is a frustrating (to say the least) endeavor. Such has been my lot of late. [click to continue…]
by paige on January 8, 2010
N OTHING LIKE THE dawn of a new year to make a middle-aged person think of, well, aging. Gracefully or otherwise, I always say it’s better than the alternative (no one has ever accused me of sentimentality, in case you’re wondering) but that doesn’t mean that I always enjoy stark reminders of the ever-present physical (and emotional) changes wrought by the passing of time. A couple of days ago, one of those stark reminders arrived, of all places, in my mailbox. [click to continue…]
First time here? Here's the idea: 
No surprise, really, that sisterhood, often life’s longest relationship and always one of its most important, has been the Muse for so much creative self-expression by women, and also by men. 
As the suffix of its name suggests, 
