Kate Dyer-Seeley  

e have a longstanding tradition in our house that we only read holiday books during each holiday’s official season.  Halloween books are cracked open in October.  November brings an assortment of Thanksgiving titles like Luke’s favorite A Plump and Perky Turkey or Ten Fat Turkeys.   For me, nothing can replace Over the River and Through [...]

he No Christmas before Thanksgiving debate is already raging in our house.  And alas, it looks like I’m losing.  The boys have loaded the CD player, our iPods and any other music playing device with Christmas carols.  They’ve decked Gordy’s office with a miniature tree and twinkle lights.  I continually find an assortment of holiday catalogs conveniently placed next to my bedside table.  Rest assured I’m [...]

ast week when Luke and I went to our local library to retrieve his summer reading prize, I happened upon a stack of Dick and Jane (yep they’re still in circulation)books.  On a whim I grabbed a few from the pile and added them to our check-out bag.  I didn’t bother scanning them, as I [...]

ope, I’m not talking cookies, although the tasty delights pictured here are courtesy of Paula Deen from Food Network.  Click here to see the recipe.  Last weekend we attended an Oscars party and in honor of the red carpet I baked a batch of red velvet cookies.  There was no dainty nibbling or noshing on these cookies with cocktails in hand.  [...]

009 will bring a new challenge for me as I, yikes, officially re-enter the workforce.   It certainly isn’t that I haven’t been working for the past few years.  I’ve kept myself busy as a mom, freelance writer, marketing specialist, and volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association.  But no, thanks to my Gemini roots, I harbor an [...]

he holiday classic, The Polar Express, chugged into town last night (well technically Hood River but that doesn’t sound as festive).  At a time when holiday traditions are lost in a sea of big box stores and tech savvy kids who email annotated wish lists to Santa, our bumpy ride over rusted tracks just might [...]

n an homage to Luke’s favorite book (of the moment) Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears, we spent the afternoon picking pears in Hood River’s organic orchards.  The Fruit Loop tour winds through 36 fruit stands, farms, and orchards.  It’s like a wine tour for kids.  Since this is harvest season the orchards were ripe with peaches, apples, squash and [...]

 
I hate to admit it but back to school season is upon us.  Aside from choosing a new Brady Bunch lunch box, my favorite part of back to school preparation as a child was shopping for clothes.  Inevitably my outfit choices lead to battles with my parents over which one was to be worn [...]

Just in time for summer vacation, I’m reading again.  I’ve found that while I’m writing or editing I can’t read, not even pure mind candy.  It’s interesting because I’m sure the cumulative works I’ve read over the past thirty-five years have all shaped and influenced my own writing style.  But while in the midst of crossing out words [...]

 It’s time for a trip to the library, your favorite bookstore, or both this weekend.  Next week, May 12-18th, is Reading Is Fun Week.  The event, founded by RIF in 1979, began as a way to encourage and promote children to read throughout summer vacation. 
My entire summer vacation revolved around reading when I was a child.  In my elementary [...]