A Mindful Life

Today as Claire sat on her little potty, she announced she wanted to sit on the Big People potty. And that she wanted big-girl underpants. So we went to Target to get an insert to make the regular toilet kid-sized and to find underwear. She chose Hello Kitty and Tinkerbell underpants. Then after lunch, she [...]

Claire turned two-and-a-half on Monday. Tonight Claire wanted to tell a story. She dictated, and I wrote it down word-for-word. Are you ready? Once upon a time there was a girl named Stacy the Firefighter. She had a dog named Sparky. He was a Dalmatian. They liked to ride the fire engine and make the [...]

Consider the Lichen. Lichens are just about the hardiest visible organisms on Earth, but the least ambitious. -Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything)

Last night I saw a movie based on a book called Half the Sky, written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Their work through this book and Nicholas’s New York Times column is an effort to galvanize the world to pay attention to women’s rights all over the world. I could get on my [...]

We want Claire to enjoy nature, and it can be a challenge to find unsullied open spaces close to home. Last weekend we went to Los Gatos Creek Trail to walk. We decided to try the trail head in Los Gatos proper. Well, first parking was a challenge. And then the many people biking and [...]