Finding beauty
It’s been a while since I’ve written here, but life’s been lifing and now all of a sudden it’s nearly Halloween!
But instead of focusing on the spooky and weird, the theme for this post is finding beauty. I know I’m not alone in feeling that we’re living underneath that allegedly Chinese* curse, “May you live in interesting times.” Sometimes it feels very hard indeed to find hope or beauty. So, in this post, I’m highlighting the hopeful and beautiful I’ve experienced recently.
*I mean, of course it’s not really an ancient Chinese curse. If you want to delve further, check out what Quote Investigator and Wikipedia have to say about the expression. The TL;DR is that English statesman Austen Chamberlain used the expression in 1936. And of course Terry Pratchett used it in Interesting Times, the 17th book in the Discworld series.Because some really wonderful things have happened in the last few months, chief of which is that my daughter got married in June. It was rainy, but it let up enough and at the right time to allow the photographer to capture the beauty and romance of the day. The event went off without a hitch: the guests had fun, the brides were happy, the food was delicious. It was really special to celebrate this union with our families.
Newlyweds Ally and Tiffany. Credit: Leighty Ray Photography
The rest of the summer, we spent time camping in our teardrop trailer and sailing Videamus, our 23-foot J70 sailboat, on Lake Champlain. In September, we traveled to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island with my brother-in-law and his wife, camping along the way. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful. The Maritimes are well worth a visit if you ever get the chance.
Prince Edward Island looking out on the Gulf of St Lawrence
The Old Wife sea stack at Five Islands Provincial Park in Nova Scotia
Book news
Belle continues to sell, although I don’t have much visibility into exactly how well the book is doing. The reviews on Amazon and GoodReads are really positive, with 64% of ratings on Amazon being 5 star. Thanks to everyone who has posted a review! I know it takes a real effort to log in, corral some coherent thoughts, and register them in the form. As someone who celebrated sewing on a button last night that I had been procrastinating doing for weeks (months?), I really appreciate everyone who made the effort. They really do make a difference, even now. Thank you.
I’m working on lining up some book talks at libraries, and I’ll be sharing news of upcoming events as I firm up details. I’m reaching out to libraries in towns a drivable distance from me as well as libraries that are farther afield but where I have a friend nearby to stay with. I really enjoy talking about the research I did for Belle and talking to folks about the book and the process of writing it, so I’m excited to get some more events lined up.
New work
I’ve got two new articles out this month! Best of Burlington, Fall 2025 is available now in print and online. Coco Goose: Where Effortless Style Is Elevated is a feature on Coco Goose, a women’s clothing boutique in Burlington. The Long Goodbye – BCA’s latest exhibit explores grief and loss through art appears in the magazine’s Art Scene department. It’s about a powerful exhibition on grief called Do We Say Goodbye? Grief, Loss, and Mourning at Burlington City Arts now through January 24, 2026.
From 2019 to 2022, I was the copy editor for Coffee Table Publishing, which publishes Best of Burlington, Best of Central Vermont, BrewView VT, and BrewView NH. It was a fun job that I left when my workload as a technical editor for Steyer Content grew too heavy to allow time for a separate gig. As happens in gig work, the technical editing work is waning a bit lately so I’m picking up extra work where I can.
I always enjoyed interviewing small business owners and community organizations for pieces in the magazines. I loved getting the chance to speak one-on-one with people about what they’re passionate about and what motivates them. I always learned something new and discovered a novel corner of the world. The world is full of amazing people, and that’s really where you find beauty and meaning — when we connect with one another.
Both of my stories in this issue of Best of Burlington explore, in their own way, how people find and create beauty and meaning. The topic of grief certainly resonated with me, and both the article and the exhibition acknowledge that grief isn’t limited to the death of a loved one. “Anyone who has experienced a significant loss—whether it’s loss of a loved one through death or the loss of a relationship, a way of life, a place, or our changing bodies—knows that grief follows its own path, often endless and certainly not tidy.”
I hope that, wherever this finds you, you’re able to find beauty and meaning.
As always, I love to hear from readers. Have you shopped at Coco Goose or had a chance to see the BCA exhibition? How was your experience? I haven’t had a chance to get up to Burlington, but I saw images of many of the Do We Say Goodbye? art works and they were very moving.
And if your town library hosts author talks, I’d love to visit and share Belle with your community! You can reach me in the comments on this post or scroll to the bottom of the page for the contact form.
