The Gorey Details

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Before and After Shots = Compelling Bloggery

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A couple of weeks ago we tackled the first of our two... let's call them "vintage" rooms. (The other is the kitchen — an epic undertaking by comparison, so we thought we'd start off with the easy one!) Here's what it looked like before, in all its peeling, stained, wallpapered glory: After stripping off the wallpaper, the exposed plaster walls gave the room a kind of abandoned Greek island cottage look — don't you think? — which we kind of liked! After a couple coats of primer and some Ben Moore "Moonlight Yellow," we had a real spare bedroom at last. Honestly, the room wasn't even on our radar during its unfortunate wallpaper days... I rarely remembered it was even there. Now I walk in from time to time just to bask in its sunny glow. (And to huff the last of the paint fumes, obviously.) Voila! In other fixity news, I totally replaced our tenants' kitchen faucet the other night. Shazam! Anyway, since it's WOL Wednesday, let's do a ma...
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Biennial update on my well-being and whereabouts

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So, um, it looks like I haven't updated this site in a wee bit, eh? Funny how time does that! Well then, here are a few bits of news for you. Last week I learned that I won two awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association . If you had told me 20 years ago that anyone anywhere would actually pay me real American dollars to write about traveling — perhaps the single greatest pursuit of human kind outside of love, family, and music — and that I'd actually win an award for such a thing, well... I'd have laughed you right out of the pub. And yet, here we are. Here are the winning stories: Kid County, Ireland  (Gold Winner, Family Travel category) It’s no Orlando (and thank God for that), but Ireland doesn’t need the Disney touch to feel like a magical playground for your own little leprechauns. Road Trip, Meet Field Trip   (Honorable Mention, Family Travel category) Sometimes the best souvenir isn’t what you buy, but what you learn. I should probabl...
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Another year over, a new one just begun

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Well, that was some year, huh? Remarkably, we made it to the other side. Whew! In the spirit of reflection and hopefulness, I thought I'd share what I consider my best work of 2017 - the stuff that helped get me through an often dispiriting year and makes me excited to keep creating in 2018. As you might know, I've been writing more words than music lately (though the horrific shooting in Las Vegas all but demanded a rewrite of They Make Angels , five years and no gun laws later). Here are the 10 stories I enjoyed writing the most this year. Thank you if you've read any of these already -- and for supporting journalism in any form these days, whether it's a newspaper subscription or NPR membership. And thank you if you've listened to my music, or supported other independent artists this year. (If you're curious, my favorite new discovery of the year, courtesy of the Newport Folk Festival, were the  Wild Reeds . My God, I would let their harmonies lull me i...
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