Cold diamonds sparkling
Worth more than treasures untold
Bright sunshine on snow.
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Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’
Cold Diamonds
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, haiku, Thoughts on January 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Thanks, Mom!
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Thoughts on January 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »
A brief content note: My mother is up in arms about yesterday’s post because she insists that I’m important. Thanks, Mom! And I am, in the way that individuals are important to other individuals, and to the world in general. But I try not to feel overly important.
In the interest of clarification, allow me to explain.
There’s a difference between being important and feeling self-important.
I like that Eleanor Roosevelt quote not because I think I’m unimportant, or think that other people are unimportant. My point in sharing that quote from Roosevelt (one of the more important women from the past century) is that I don’t think it pays to feel one’s importance too much.
How you can make a difference in the world, invest time and energy in the people and things you care about, alleviate others’ problems and generally be a good person, those are all things worth thinking about.
I hope I’m not self-important, and I try not to overthink my awesomeness. (Which, to be fair, is real. Just ask my mom*:)
What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other? — George Eliot
* Who is also awesome! And I bet you’re awesome too:)
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Uncomplicated Day
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Thoughts on January 25, 2026| 1 Comment »
I’m so glad I never feel important, it does complicate life!
— Eleanor Roosevelt
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Sometimes For the Better
Posted in Food and..., Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, baking, change, dessert, food, recipes, Thoughts on January 23, 2026| 3 Comments »
Things change, including tastes. Once upon a time, lo in the darkness of the long ago past, I hated brie.
The flavor, the texture, everything about it struck me as wrong. I have a particularly strong memory of sitting on the wooden steps overlooking the grassy hill leading down to the stream, parental units laughing as I grimaced around a mouth full of bitter cheese.
Reader, I am here to tell you that I got over it.
That’s not the only taste that has changed over the years. I used to avoid almonds in general (dry slices! annoyingly sharp slivers!) and almond flavoring specifically. Too strong, too cloying, too whatever. It was on my list of no thank yous.
Then we started watching The Great British Baking Show and came across frangipane. It seemed quick, easy, versatile, but still, ugh, almond.
Eventually I decided to give it a try despite my almond aversion.
Reader, I am here to tell you that I got over it:)
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The world is going through a lot of changes right now, many with decidedly negative outcomes. (Looking at you, climate change!) But not all of those changes are bad.
My tastes have evolved and I’m happier for it. Staying openminded, staying flexible, those are good things. (Not for my cholesterol, obviously, but baby steps amirite?)
I recently tried out this recipe for Raspberry Puff Turnovers. And heck, while I was at it, why not add a layer of frangipane?
Nothing about my version should have worked. It was my first shot at making puff pastry. It came out of the freezer too cold and was a pain to work. Mr Man offered to help and it was only after he finished beating it into submission that I remembered one should probably treat pastry with more delicacy. It refused to roll out to size and I had to peel it off the silicone mat with a spatula.
Surely, I thought, this is a disaster in the making. But I made the raspberry filling with a bit of lemon and Fiori di Sicilia and the frangipane is all made so let’s just give it a go.
Rolling, sizing, cutting, sealing, bake times, all very much an adventure.
And yet somehow, it worked.
The pastry was shatteringly crisp. The raspberry filling mellowed into sweet and tangy perfection. And the frangipane melted into a creamy layer of subtle flavor that complemented the lot.
So hooray, but that’s only partly why I decided to tell you this story.
It turns out that, if you have leftover frangipane and berry filling, you have all the makings of a quick and easy cookie. (The classic “quick” frangipane dessert is a French-toast adjacent toasted bread called Bostock, but I was out of both time and bread.)
A scoop of frangipane with a dot of jam in the center, baked on parchment paper in the toaster oven at 350F (six minutes for me, maybe more if your cookies are bigger), and voila. I learned something new and got delicious, delicately almond-flavored cookies.
An unexpected bonus, and a reminder that change can be for the better, too.
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For Muscles and Minds
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Motivation, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Useful Tools
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, advice, blocks, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The world is a distracting place. If you’ve been having trouble finding the time and energy to focus on your writing, this free class from award-winning author Mary Robinette Kowal might be useful.
Free Class: Barriers to Writing
Hey there… have you been having a hard time writing? Yeah. There’s a lot of that going around right now.
This class looks at what keeps people from writing. It’s less about problems with the story and more about all the external things. It covers environmental factors, mental health, and tricks for compensating for all of this to write.
Thanks, Mary!
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This Moment in Time
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, #MLKDay, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The power of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres including “the speculative” lies in its ability to create new ways to talk about old and ongoing problems in our societies. We are surrounded by people who wonder what they are going to do with the moment in time they inhabit—time-travelers fixed to this one instant in a long continuum of human struggle—and we are crafting new vocabularies of comfort, courage, and creative energy for them and for ourselves.
— The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the power of building new worlds
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What She Said
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 18, 2026| 3 Comments »
“We’re only here for a short time. So why not go for it?”
— Belle Burden
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Here, Now, Between Us
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Thoughts on January 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »
We live in an often discouraging time, but when I take a step back from “the world” writ large, it can be endlessly encouraging too.
Today I’m baking as a way to say thank you to the neighbors. They helped us out when we were in a bit of a crunch, and it was a great reminder that day-to-day life is not only what we see in the headlines.
It’s also what we make here, now, between us.
I hope the neighbors enjoy today’s kitchen adventures (magic posset, only this time with real key lime juice), but I’m mostly thankful to have a way to share a bit of good in the world.
Whatever your way is, I hope that this weekend you have something to do, and someone to do it for.
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Because It’s Cold!
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, #BirdsAreReal, nature, Thoughts on January 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
It’s cold here today, the temperature almost 20C/35F lower than it was before a storm came through and left a thick coating of lovely but frigid snow.
Which got me thinking, and not for the first time: How do birds stay warm?
Here’s a short explainer article with a helpful video of chickadees, cardinals, jays and other birds (some in dramatic slo-mo!):
How Birds Stay Warm in the Winter Snow: Backyard Birds Revealed | All About Birds
Some of the survival tricks captured in this episode include: “drinking” snow on icy days; an ingenious solution to the problem of cold feet; and the incredible warmth of a fluffy coat of feathers.
Now I’m off to refill my bird feeder and top up the bird bath. Because it’s cold!
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