Petals in the Pool

I can still remember my first - and only - Michael Stipe sighting. The R.E.M. front man was walking downtown in Athens, alone and looking a tad worse for the wear. It was at night - probably late - and it took a few seconds for the recognition to register. Once it did, I was both let down (by his ability to walk down the street with a skill nearing on invisibility) and relief that I had finally accomplished a long-venerated rite of Classic City passage.   I had gone through my R.E.M. phase several years before. I can still remember laying in bed with my headphones on, listening to the "Out of Time" album over and over. So much young teenage angst! "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" has popped into my head a time or two during this pandemic, which is funny because its dire title is diminished by its poppy beat, and it appeared on an album I never owned. Plus, it's akin to a question my youngest daughter, Debbin, asked quite a bit as C...

At the beginning of all this, maybe a week or so before Georgia's statewide shelter-in-place order took effect, my husband suggested we head over to his art studio and get creative. A graffiti artist and muralist by trade, he thought it would be fun (maybe meaningful is a better word) to commemorate our experience living in a world impacted by COVID-19 with a mural that would encourage others and give our family an excuse to do something together. It was truly a collaborative effort. Rich used Dorothy's characters to create our "family," then added his own design to create the finished piece. He created several different iterations by switching out the "Positive" for "At Home," and then "Faithful." It was a fun experience and a great excuse for us to get out of the house and stretching our creative muscles. Little did we know then that our piece may last far beyond the pandemic, thanks to the UGA Libraries' Coronavirus Collection, an...

I hesitate to use the words "pandemic" and "pleasures" in the same phrase, but what follows is indeed an anecdotal list of the foods, shows, and activities I've taken great pleasure in over the last several weeks. None are earth-shaking, but all have brought a smile to my face. If you know me even the slightest bit, you know I love to read - especially historical fiction. My favorite novels include Pride & Prejudice, written by Jane Austen in 1813 - just a few decades after the events of the Cornwall-set Poldark series begin to take place. I don't know why it took me so long to discover the BBC series, now available on Amazon Prime. I remember my parents watching it and loving it when it first aired on PBS several years ago. At any rate, I'm savoring each episode and plan to soon treat myself to the series of books on which the shows are based. I'm a sucker for a great soundtrack, and the Poldark score by Anne Dudley doesn't disappoi...

Back in January, we found out that our church's student ministry would be traveling to England for their biennial international mission trip. Dorothy was, of course, excited. Rich and I were beyond ecstatic. We had several weeks before been reminiscing about our time living in England and traveling abroad, and talked about how cool it would be for Dorothy to have a similar, though age-appropriate and Spirit-led, adventure. We felt that England, as opposed to more exotic, previous destinations like Kenya and Dominica, would be a good starting point for Dorothy's international travel experience. (One of my dearest wishes for my girls is that they travel as much as they can, while they can. The world is a big place once you get out into it, and traveling opens up your mind, heart, and soul in ways that staying Stateside never could.) And so our preparations began. The requirements in and of themselves were daunting. Going on this trip would be not be for the faint of heart. ...