Slow Cooking on a Budget

Slow Cooking on a Budget

When my husband, Steve, was in graduate school his professor assigned a project that required the acquisition and analysis of a unique set of data. Due to a few of Steve’s quirkier (though useful) traits, he happened to have kept a set of small notebooks …read more

A Garden Filled with Memories

A Garden Filled with Memories

I never imagined, 29 years after my mother ran the Show of Summer (now part of the American Flower Show) at the Chicago Botanic Garden,  that I would be on the Esplanade with Jane running our own show – the zen of slow cooking – at their …read more

Changed by a Child

Changed by a Child

Excerpt from Changed by a Child authored by Barbara Gill… “I lay looking out the window from my bed in the maternity ward of a Minneapolis hospital on a Monday morning in the last week of March.  The sky was leaden and the ground was …read more

Our Other Mothers

Our Other Mothers

My Mother was approaching her 40th birthday when I was born. The family lore is that my birth came with an aura of joy and happiness.  And no one was more excited than my 11 year old sister, Ann. After 11 years of being chased …read more

Sunday with Aubrey

Sunday with Aubrey

A few weeks ago I decided to participate in a Lenten Study at my church. A good friend of mine was facilitating the group, so I knew the evening would be well organized with rich discussion. Each week we have been challenged to examine a …read more

The Healing Power of Food

The Healing Power of Food

I’ll never forget that cold sunny afternoon in March 2010. As I reached my car after my run at the local rec center, I noticed a message on my cell phone from my husband Steve. My stomach sank. Only an hour earlier he had called me from Keystone, …read more

Giving Thanks: Season of Growth Part 2

Giving Thanks: Season of Growth Part 2

I remember when my son, Doug, was just three years old and received the recommendation that he attend an early intervention program. We had just moved to Orlando from Atlanta. I was excited to explore such a warm climate after a childhood in the Midwest. This …read more