I’ve passed this wooden flower stand and its “Free flowers” sign before, only I’ve always been too late to see anything but empty shelves until today, when four repurposed glass jars full of loveliness were sitting there. I only had spare change for the donation box, but I couldn’t resist stopping and taking a jar that once held lingonberry jam … Read More
Why I spent a ton of money on Small Business Saturday
This year, my daughter’s thirteenth birthday happened to land on the day after Thanksgiving, and so, because she’s officially a teenager and required by law to obsess over clothes, we went Black Friday shopping. On Thanksgiving night. For four hours. The mall was exactly the bacchanal of consumerism that you’d expect, and yes, I did get a very cute jean jacket at the Gap, thank you … Read More
The Spookiest Thing I Love About Blacksburg
I am a complete and total wuss when it comes to scary stuff. When I was growing up in Southern California, my dad would take my sister and me every year to Knott’s Scary Farm, where mask-wearing maniacs revved their chainsaws on the Log Ride and 20-somethings in evil makeup chased us around the funnel cake stands. Eventually, after a particularly vibrant post–Scary … Read More