Sunday afternoon
electric lap throw reading
deepest-ever peace
Sunday Afternoon
Falling In Love with Theo of Golden
I’ve recommended Theo of Golden to everyone I know, with this sense of urgency: stop whatever you’re doing and read this book.
So when my sister-in-law had turned the last page and both scolded me for not revealing the impact the book would have (I won’t give specific spoilers) and in the next breath thanked me for recommending it, she was eager to visit the coffee shop and see the portraits that became the inspiration for the book. Fountain City Coffee is an hour from our family farm in rural Georgia, so we made plans to take our husbands (who are brothers) and go to the coffee shop on Sunday, February 15. Though we’ve been to or through Columbus, Georgia on many occasions (my own brother was born there), we wanted to see it through the lens of this amazing book – the art on the walls of the coffee shop, the Riverwalk and adjacent bike shop where Theo and Ellen go for a ride and talk about the bird nest on the bank, and the little bookstore.
It was a stroke of magnificent timing that my writing friend Sally Donnelly of Arlington, Virginia sent me the link to Katie Couric’s interview with Allen Levi, the author of Theo of Golden in the comments on her blog post. I’d hoped to watch it but had an event with my in-person book club in my home that evening and couldn’t watch the live interview. Sally knows what a fan I am, and it was simply the best Valentine ever to watch that interview. I’d hug her if she were here!
I’ll be taking plenty of photos and maybe even doing a few recorded clips as well, and I’ll plan to blog about this experience on Tuesday morning. As I write, the rain is pelting down in heavy waves on this 48-degree morning here in rural Georgia, so I hope it has blown over by the time we make our jaunt west to the state line that divides Georgia and Alabama. If you’re having the same weather we are having, it’s a great day to run by the bookstore on the way home from church and grab a copy of this book and then sink down into a chair by the fireplace and devour it!
Happy reading ~may
all your books take you down new
trails and adventures!
Making Cookies with the Kindred Spirits
If you don’t have a book club in your life, go find you one – or better yet, start one – that likes to read across a variety of genres, gather and discuss books, and be so inspired by them that there is that one little thing or two that makes you want to do something you wouldn’t ordinarily do, see, taste, or experience. People who say that books can change your life aren’t joking; my father always said that if your book isn’t changing your life, it’s time to change your book. His words were never more true than yesterday, on what was his first heavenly birthday.
That’s one of the reasons that in the Kindred Spirits Book Club, we squeeze every drop of life from every book by allowing it to take us to new places. I think back to that first book we read together in January 2025, The Beautiful and the Wild by Peggy Townsend, and one of our group members noticed that one of the characters was always serving hot tea. We found a local tea room and paid them a visit one Saturday morning. One year later, we’re still going strong, seeking the full adventure that’s ours to claim as we find it between the pages.
Our last book of 2025 was The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan, and one group member noticed that the chef in the book was always talking about her cookery books. It inspired us to want to take some sort of food class – a charcuterie board class, a cooking class, or some type of cake or cookie decorating class. We found the answer right in our own small town. A retired teacher created a cookie business as her next chapter and now travels the surrounding area with her own personally-designed cookie decorating kit, setting up in homes and giving groups the opportunity to create together.
We called our friend Chris Tyree of Cookies by Chrissoula, and we set Friday, February 13 as our cookie decorating party, complete with a chili dinner and the fun of togetherness – in pajamas, sweats, and slippers. We laughed, we concentrated on cookie details, and commiserated over the woes of the world. If a cookie broke, we learned how to glue it back together with icing – discoveries that become metaphors for all the broken places in our own lives. Just slap some sugary sweetness in between the jagged edges and put it back together and keep going. In a world of tension and deadlines, frustrations and disappointments, we counted our blessings and considered the icing on our cookies, so to speak.
books and friends steer swift
currents, keep us anchored as
we share adventures
Falling in Love with a Simple Sweetness
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and it’s the day of flowers, so I’m celebrating with flowers – three tiny white daisies in a windowsill vase, inspiring a small poem of three stanzas. A tricube poem is one that has three syllables on three lines in three stanzas. I have written one today to appreciate the small, simple things.
Valentine Tricube
small blush vase ~
windowsill
daisy joy
fresh flowers
greet the day
lovingly
simple blooms
standing still
keep things real
Falling in Love with Art
My older daughter sent us a digital photo frame to which family members can upload photos so that they will appear like magic on the scrolling screen in our living room. I set it up, added the app, and invited all the kids to upload their pictures, expecting the fun surprises of noticing the new ones each week or so.
“Wait,” one son interjected. “Let me make sure I understand. So we can add photos that will just show up in your living room when anyone may be visiting?”
I warned him not to get any bright ideas and to keep it clean. Imagine my amused horror when a daughter zoomed in on a family photo where she’d been standing with her thumbs in her belt loops but actually shooting a bird. And someone added a picture of some stranger in a jon boat holding his arms out to show off a fish, but the fish is photoshopped into the photo several inches from his hands. They also add their favorites through the years, right back to all the times that made us laugh so hard our stomachs hurt. And some of family members no longer with us that are especially touching now. It’s my favorite art in the house ~ photography entertainment where my family members are in the frames.
there we are, kissing in front of Cadillac Ranch
Johnson Rt 66 Trip June 2023
spray painted on a vertical hood
there we are, coffee and breakfast in Tulsa and
standing in front of the Blue Whale of Catoosa
brothers on a bench in El Reno
and our feet on a painted street sign
and look! there’s Boo Radley in the kayak
wearing his Nemo life vest
ready for adventure, whatever that means
oooh, and there we all are in
Tennessee in the VRBO on the mountain
playing dominoes and talking trash
and all the kids in the pool
rocking the place with waves
the littlest smiling, showing off two
recently cut bottom teeth
the others lined up on the front porch
steps eating watermelon
and us eating seafood listening to
Suno songs about us eating seafood
an engagement, a wedding, a cup
of coffee in Starbucks
and watching the Blue Angels
from the heat of a parking lot
and the oldest grandson
eating a Biblical meal
Poppy in the oldest pub in Boston
eating oysters
and us in the sun in Kennebunkport
each memory scrolls by
smiles in these moments
of living and holding presence
belonging for our time
as we live it
Falling In Love with the Music
Our Christmas gift to each other last year will serve as our Valentine’s Day gift also, since we will be traveling for a long-awaited excursion next week. As long-time lovers of all things Eagles, we decided in October on a dream whim while playing dominoes during a family vacation that we should definitely go see them in concert at the Sphere. One of our daughters lives near the area and offered to pick us up from the airport and show us the lay of the land.
It didn’t take arm-twisting. We hopped off the Mexican Train long enough to buy two tickets, make a reservation at a nearby resort, and book airfare, then looked in each other’s eyes and said, “Merry Christmas.” One of our sons decided to join in the fun also, minus the concert tickets. That’s how we roll on the festivity meter. No gifts under the tree, but a memory-maker instead that will be appreciated long after whatever sweaters we would have opened.
My Favorite Eagles Song is Hidden in these Lines
my soul mate and I
went for an experience
instead of gifts
last Christmas
so next week we will
fly west
to hear The Eagles
at The Sphere
but I confess:
I cheated and
took it to the limit
with two
concert shirts
because, you know…..
stocking stuffers
Falling in Love with Silent Book Club
I have another new book club, and I hear that this kind is sweeping the country. It’s all the rage right now. I’d heard of Silent Book Clubs, and the idea was intriguing. My first thought: I can read silently at home in my pajamas in my favorite chair; why do I need a silent book club? Then I was invited to one, and I went as a guest. I was delighted to be surrounded by readers who were completely immersed in the joy of actual reading – – something we don’t see at most other book clubs, since we read ahead. It feels reassuring to glance around and see others taking in print, not distracted by the dryer buzzer or the dogs or the kids or anyone asking for anything.
My friend Janette is one of the most avid readers I know, so it’s no surprise she has begun hosting the Silent Book Club Flint River chapter here in middle Georgia. You can check out and join the page to follow all of our book adventures and see what folks are reading by clicking here. It’s not the only book club the two of us attend together, but rather than being a club with a common title and established meeting location for discussions each month, the meetings are created pop-up style in various locations, and each reader brings whatever book they’re reading at the time. We know there’s going to be a meeting when we follow the Facebook page and see the time and location. We show up with our book and read for an hour in a room full of old friends and new friends. Some read from Kindles, some listen to audiobooks, some read hard copies, and some, like me, even bring noise-cancelling earbuds or headphones to play nature sounds as they read.
If you don’t have a Silent Reading Club chapter near you, consider starting one. Until then, join us – no matter where you are in the world. Find out when and where we are reading, then do the same from your favorite comfy chair….or bench….or beach towel. Send a picture of you and your book and say hello on the Facebook page. Let us know that you read for the hour. We can’t wait for you to be a part of all the fun and to create new opportunities for reading wherever you are!
Silent Book Club reads
in adventurous places
world page-travelers
Falling in Love with the Unexpected
Georgia Heard’s Substack offers writing calendars that work for both children and adults. Here is her February Valentine Mini Writing Calendar, inspiring us to fall in love with the everyday. Day 7 asks us to fall in love with love with something unexpected and share about what surprised our hearts.
What Love Looks Like
I’m standing at the
bathroom sink
doing my makeup
when he walks
up behind me
holding out
a steaming mug
setting it down
on the counter
between the
mascara and lipstick
steady like a
gymnast on a
balance beam
I made your coffee
he whispers
leaning down
planting a kiss
on my neck
catching my eye
in the mirror
and in that moment
I swear I see
what a love
spark looks like
Small Rituals
Georgia Heard’s Substack offers writing calendars that work for both children and adults. Here is her February Valentine Mini Writing Calendar, inspiring us to fall in love with the everyday. Day 6 asks us to fall in love with love with a small ritual that brings us comfort or joy such as morning coffee, walking the dog, or lighting a candle.
Do Tell
for me, it’s when
we come home
from anywhere
even if we’ve
only been gone
three minutes
to check the mail
here they come
all three boys
ears flapping
tails up
pawing our legs
Come, play!
they say
but it’s when
they turn
take off
and hit full
speed down
the hall
racing for
all they’re
worth to
wait for us
in our
chairs like
old friends
ready for
coffee and
conversation
on the couch
that really surges
my joy meter
tell us, what is
did you do with
your wild and
precious day?
they ask,
licking our faces
and we tell them
To Love a Word
Check out Georgia Heard’s Substack for monthly writing calendars that work for both children and adults. Her February Valentine Mini Writing Calendar, inspires us to fall in love with the everyday. Day 5 asks us to fall in love with love with a word, one that feels good to say, then to write it down and let it lead.
Since my One Little Word of 2026 is Onward, I’m choosing it today.
Onward
onward: mountains call ~
fresh, clean air…..majestic views
…..babbling creeks….ONWARD!
Common Threads 