Oh, boy. It seems that the wild ride that was the most welcome end of 2020 and early January news kept many of us from the annual “what’s hot and what’s not” lists. My family’s temporary relocation has postponed my pithy observations even longer. Most of the time I’m just amused by the trends predicted for a new year but this time was different. I was at least mildly curious about color and fashion trends, but what I really wondered was how any 2021 trends (and,…
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Our Friend Oscar and His Inner Critic
Once upon a time we had a friend, a guy named Oscar. Like most — maybe all — of us, he had an inner critic. The problem was, he did not know that his inner critic could become an ally. Our friend struggled and stayed stuck — convinced that those ugly words the inner critic put into his head were, in fact, true. One day, somebody gave our friend a book. A very good book. An award-winning book. At first Oscar wasn’t sure why he had…
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Naming Alex ~ Trusting the Creative Process
He was called Roo — as in Winnie-the-Pooh’s friend from the Hundred Acre Wood. While it was cute, it did not seem a good fit for such a strong, muscular young pup. Naming a new family member is always a little daunting. In addition, Alex was born deaf. For some reason I think that contributed to doing more than my usual amount of overthinking. For example, although I could call him Herbie today and Winston next week, this little dog needed a name to suit his…
