If I die tomorrow: 6 ways it would stink and 7 ways I'd live on

If I die tomorrow: 6 ways it would stink and 7 ways I'd live on

stairway to clouds

My husband and I recently had yet another discussion on death and dying, as mid-life, long-married couples are wont to do. (It's not just us, right?) Our conversation led me to consider how it's often said that toward the end of life, many folks lament and regret not having said "I love you" often enough, if at all, to those they love the most.

I don't have that concern. I do tell...

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Colorful quaking aspen, plus GRAND Social No. 124 link party

grand social link party

Colorful quaking aspen

In Colorado, we don't have a huge variety of trees changing color come fall. We do have the aspen trees — often called quaking aspen — though. Their magnificent autumn show of color would put to shame any other trees, which just may be why aspens are the primary deciduous trees on the mountainsides, alongside the majestic Blue Spruce and other pines.

The orange, red and yellow of the aspens...

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Saturday movie review: 'Blood Ties'

Blood Ties DVD

Films featuring themes of brothers at odds or cops versus robbers abound, yet I've found few as engaging as BLOOD TIES starring Clive Owen and Billy Crudup. In this gritty tale (meaning, expect blood and violence) set in 1970s Brooklyn and directed by Guillaume Canet, Clive Owen stars as Chris, a 50-year-old criminal recently released from prison...

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Walking in his brothers' footsteps

Now shall I walk or shall I ride?
'Ride,' Pleasure said;
'Walk,' Joy replied.

— W.H. Davies, poet (1871-1940)

My youngest grandson, Jak, walks and rides in the very same way — in the very same walker — as his big brothers did before him.

baby boy in walker
JAK ...

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Changing seasons: Thoughts on giving my adult daughters their baby books

Changing seasons: Thoughts on giving my adult daughters their baby books

baby books

"It would be good for me to know those things," my middle daughter sighed into the phone the other day. And she's right.

We were on the phone, discussing challenges she faces with her middle child, my second grandson. There is hope, I pointed out, a...

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