After spending a couple of weeks in an intense fixer upper mode which required the use of multiple tools (belt sander, biscuit cutter, drill, palm sander, and cabinet clamps to name a few), I’ve been thinking about tools and how they impact our lives. There are physical tools that we hold in our hands and [read more] …
Blog
Embracing Summer Solitude
Part of the beauty of summer is the extra room to breathe. It is a time to enjoy picnics and watch the fireflies at night. It is a rare chance to read that book that has been calling your name, the opportunity to try that new art project, the mental capacity to think about the [read more] …
Are Your Kids in a Rut?
It is so easy to fall into a routine that functions on autopilot. I catch myself doing it all the time. I default into the habit and my brain turns off. Now, good habits are golden and something we want to encourage for our kids as well as ourselves, but functioning solely through habit can [read more] …
What is Leadership?
Leadership is a term that can be difficult to define, especially when we are reviewing our child’s activities in hopes of scholarships. It is important to understand that selective colleges no longer expect every student to be a leader, but many scholarships are looking for that specifically. Numerous colleges have presidential scholarships or other large [read more] …
Living in the Right Season
I come from a long line of farmers and ranchers – men and women who were patient stewards of the land and the animals that lived there. While the workload is incredible and the stressors many, there is a certain measured stride in the life of any farmer because they are forced into the rhythm [read more] …
Translation Issues
My constant challenge as an art student is to represent a three-dimensional object, person, or scene on a one-dimensional piece of paper. To be successful, I must draw it so that the viewer sees all dimensions even though it is a flat plane. I am, in effect, translating what I see so that others see [read more] …
Context Matters
Students across the country are finishing up their junior year and will soon begin the college application process. They will only have an essay, 8-10 spaces for all their extracurricular activities, maybe a couple of short answer questions, plus recommendations from their counselor and teachers to explain who they are to colleges. So much has [read more] …