As you all know, the last year and a half have been tough on the Smith family. It has been beyond exhausting juggling everything that has been flung our way.

But when you try keeping eighty bazillion balls in the air at one time when you have lupus?

Apparently your body decides to get even with you. And, let’s just say, mine is doing so at the moment.

Because lupus is a lifetime illness, I have to focus on better day-to-day management, something that hasn’t been enough of a priority for me.  And I have to do it starting now.

What does it mean in terms of FDL?

I’m going to have to step away from blogging for a while, because I want to live to see the woman that The Peanut will become as she grows up. And I want to grow old with Mr. ReddHedd, who may just be the best husband on the planet and is most certainly the love of my life.

It is a tough thing to do at the ripe age of 40 — face your own potential mortality.  But suddenly I’m doing it with a far clearer perspective not just on what it means for me, but also for my wonderful husband and our precious child.

This is a hard decision to make but, for once in my life, I have to put my own needs ahead of everything else…even though it really hurts to walk away from something I’ve put so much of myself into the last few years. But we have to do everything possible to get this current health issue under control.

What that means on down the road is anyone’s guess — lord knows keeping my mouth shut about policy issues that piss me off isn’t exactly my forte. But I’m trying to take it one day at a time.

I have loved meeting and working alongside all of you, from the very first day when it was just me, Jane and about 4 comments a post on any given day. It is a glorious thing to behold to see what an active, vibrant community the whole of FDL has become, and what a catalyst for change such a dedicated group of voices can be when they are raised together. (more…)

Apples via Ivan M.

‘Tis the season.

No, not that one.  The bowl full o’ jelly man isn’t due for a few more months.

It’s apple season.  That joyous time of year when I start craving spiced cider and apple crisps and spending time with my family at a u-pick-em orchard.

Funny how with each change of the seasons, some expectation or anticipation shifts inside us.  Suddenly, the mornings are ever so slightly crisper here, and that means we’re on that downhill slide toward actual Fall.

With it?  Comes warm soups and crusty bread.  Or pumpkin pie with just the right amount of ginger balanced against the spicy kick of ground cloves.  

And that sugar maple several blocks up the street?  It’s going to burst into flame-colored leaves that will last for weeks on end if we are lucky and get a little more rain this week.  Not to mention football season.

Ahhhhh…gotta love it.

Anyone else getting an apple crisp craving right about now?  Pull up a chair… (more…)

Photo by Donna Chiarelli. Used via express permission only.

Ahhh, Labor Day weekend. 

Time to kick back, relax, and enjoy whatever it is we all enjoy together or separately. 

How many folks out there are planning a picnic, BBQ, meal for family and friends or football watching weekend snackfest extravaganza? 

*raising hands*

So, who has a few recipes to share?  A party music playlist to suggest?  A movie-watching themed bonanza to recommend?

Anyone headed outdoors for a last hurrah of summer weather?  It’s been gorgeous here, and strangely not too humid.  That’ll never last.  But we’ll enjoy it while it lasts. 

Friend of the blog Donna sent this glorious photo of a female ruby-throated hummingbird, zooming in for a snack at the backyard cardinal vine.  Just beautiful, isn’t it?

What’s making you smile these days?  If you are new, do introduce yourself — and if you aren’t new?  Say howdy anyway.  Pour another cuppa coffee, grab yourself a hot cinnamon roll and pull up a chair… (more…)

Can’t just wash it away…

Hurricane Katrina marked a real low point in human compassion and decency in this country on so many levels.

But it also brought out some of the best in so many people from all over the country — and the world. Neighbors helping each other cope with their horrible losses.

I don’t know about everyone else, but reading the news makes me tired these days. Downright bone weary, frankly, because it’s too much of “the more things change, the more things stay the same.” Which just is not exactly a bliss-inducing thought, now is it? So I thought I’d look around for something a little more unusual to share this morning. Behold! Some actual good news…

As a kid, I was fascinated by science fiction shows.

I loved the original Star Trek series a lot, especially City on the Edge of Forever, just superb writing in that one. (Even though Harlan Ellison still maintains his script got mangled.)

But my big love back then was Dr.

When I was a young girl, watching Julia Child on our local PBS station was the height of entertainment for me.

There was something fascinating about watching this hilariously extremely-serious-about-cooking woman baste and chop her way through an entire show, reveling in her mistakes and laughing. And then turning out these fabulous dishes which she clearly took great pride in cooking.

I have been on a travel book kick of late. It’s a bit of escape reading for me, really, without having to actually leave the house.

There is a line in Out of Africa where Karin Blixen is asked whether she’s traveled much — she’s being teased about bringing Limoges to Africa to set up house.