Some places seem to exist just a little outside the rush of modern life. Mooresville, Alabama, is one of them. The tiny historic village feels less like a tourist destination and more like a place quietly tending its own story. Riding through town by bicycle, I was reminded that there are some places best experienced […]
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Some places invite you to slow down almost as soon as you arrive. Elkmont, Alabama, is one of them. One crisp Friday afternoon in October, I met my sister, Sandy, after she finished her shift as a nurse at Huntsville Hospital. I had driven down from Franklin, Tennessee after a busy week, eager to leave
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When I decided to return to outdoor cycling, I naturally began searching for interesting places to ride. In the process, I stumbled upon something I had never heard of before: the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Discovering their work felt like uncovering one of those quiet, remarkable stories that reminds me just how many thoughtful people are out
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The Quiet Making of Strong Women Today is International Women’s Day. As happens every year, social media is full of opinions about what that should mean. Some celebrate enthusiastically. Others dismiss the day altogether. The conversations are often loud, passionate, and sometimes divisive. Watching them unfold, I found myself thinking instead about something much quieter.
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Every few years, the culinary world discovers something it acts as though it has just invented. Suddenly it’s everywhere. Instagram feeds overflow with carefully arranged bowls of vibrant vegetables, roasted sweet potatoes, leafy greens, grains, seeds, and colorful sauces. Pinterest is filled with thousands of beautiful photographs, each one more artfully composed than the last.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Again For more than fifty years, children—and the adults who love them—have delighted in the little caterpillar who eats his way through an astonishing feast before quietly transforming into a magnificent butterfly. There is something timeless about Eric Carle’s stories. Their bold colors, simple language, and gentle rhythms invite children into
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According to Kristen Miglore, author of Genius Desserts, when Francois Payard opened his first patisserie in Manhattan in 1997, he didn’t want to compete with the American chocolate chip or the snickerdoodle so he based his signature cookie off a French macaroon. These scrumptious cookies with a thin, crackly shell cave to a fudge-brownie middle
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There is a peculiar tenderness that accompanies the parenting of grown children. When they are little, you know where they are almost every moment of the day. You buckle them into car seats, tuck them into bed, hold their hands crossing busy streets, and count heads before leaving the playground. Their world is, in many
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I stared in astonishment at the photograph my elderly aunt had recently placed in my hands. The young woman looking back at me could not have been more than eighteen. Her gaze was steady, her posture confident, her expression quietly self-assured. Even more startling was the unmistakable resemblance I saw in some of her features
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A few days after living through a brief season with almost no margin in my life, and just before I was to pick up my four-year-old granddaughter for a morning at the park, I backed my beautiful Toyota 4Runner straight into the trailer hitch of a parked truck. Hard. I was in a hurry. I
