just ponderin'

… on the dark side of a photo shoot

October 17, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

When I started writing here, I knew that – even though I might want to write about the people in my life sometimes – I didn’t want to invade their privacy and I was going to have to have some rules for myself. Nora Ephron’s mom may have said, “It’s all copy”, but I didn’t want to install a revolving door for friends and family members who made ‘good copy’, but were kind of sick of wondering if I really loved them or […]

Categories: family, Feel good stuff, joy, just ponderin', musings, my perfect cherubs • Tags: comedic writing, comedy, Discovery Park, empty nest, engagement, engagement photos, family, humor, joy, just ponderin', musings, photography, Seattle

… on a job well done

October 15, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

Blaze is not a silly dog for just anyone. She is not a Lab or a Golden Retriever in a ShepHerd’s body. After all, she is royalty, and has a reputation to keep up. She is mostly business, making sure she knows the people and items in her household are content, safe, and in their proper places. She will do her ’rounds’ frequently… giving the eye to the vacuum cleaner if it dares to be out of the closet but not […]

Categories: dogs, Feel good stuff, just ponderin', musings, my perfect cherubs, omd! (oh my dog(s)!), unique observation • Tags: boy and his dog, german shepherd, just ponderin', kids and dogs

… on an anchor

October 12, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

By this time, in mid-October-years-past, I would have had The Disposable Shack* decorated to the nines. What is ‘decorated to the nines’? That number seems rather random. Screw it. Being an admirer of Spinal Tap, I think I’ll now say ‘decorated to the elevens’. So. By this time in October, the Disposable Shack would have been decorated to the elevens with jack-o-lanterns and skeletons, creepy hands reaching for unsuspecting victims approaching the house, glowing rats on the floor, hanging spiders, walls dripping blood […]

Categories: aspiring maine-iacs, Dunstable, fall in new england, family, Feel good stuff, Halloween, home, joy, just ponderin', Maine, musings, my perfect cherubs, secrets to happiness, the maine thing, warning: irreverence • Tags: empty nest, family, humor, joy, just ponderin', Life Anchor, maine, musings, photography, secrets to happiness

… on fall blooms

October 5, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

If called upon, I’ll bloom in fall Amongst the hips and leaves That have drifted, fallen all round In the chilled October breeze I’ll gather strength, and blossom tall In times where suns will set On lives and souls in towns and knolls Those loved and never met Each autumn bloom must don its shawl Take comfort in the knowing Some leaves fall early, others late And between there’s still the growing If left to bloom on autumn’s stalk I vow to […]

Categories: just ponderin', musings, poem, unique observation • Tags: photography, poem, poetry

… on breaking my kids

October 1, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

Dear Kids, There is no easy way to say this so I’ll just come out with it. You’re broken. Yep, you two Jack. Even though you’re just a half kid, you are whole-y broken. I know this is true because, today on my Facebook feed, I came across a link to an article in Good Housekeeping magazine entitled 50 Things You Should Never, Ever Say to Your Kids. Erase These Common Phrases From Your Vocabulary. Oh the shame. But, as the […]

Categories: child rearing, family, just ponderin', musings, my perfect cherubs, warning: irreverence • Tags: 50 thinks you should never ever say to your kids, better homes and gardens, comedic writing, comedy, family, humor, just ponderin', musings, things you shouldn't say to your kids

… on the give away pile

September 21, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

There is nothing like getting ready to move that shows you what an impractical human being you are… which could be another term for intervention-bound hoarder. There is just so much stuff! We are knee-deep in what any responsible human being who has ever stumbled across an Oprah episode on decluttering and organizing does. We are making piles. “Keep it” “Toss it” “Give it away” All using the decorating/interior design Golden Rule of “live with what you love”. Do you love it – for […]

Categories: Feel good stuff, joy, just ponderin', musings, secrets to happiness • Tags: dealing with narcissists, joy, just ponderin', musings, narcissism, secrets to happiness, stepping back from toxic relationships, toxic friendships, toxic relationships

… on hunting season and blending in

September 16, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

Okay, sure. Clocks weren’t melting and I didn’t wake up with a skinny, long and somewhat disturbing mustache. But the point is I could have. Seriously. To fit in, I may even change my name (I might hyphenate, as Lisa Dingle-Dali has a certain ring to it). So, turns out the surrealist movement in twenty-first century Maine starts out with gunshots. No, really. You wake up on… let me see… September 15th to two shots (which could also have been called blasts […]

Categories: aspiring maine-iacs, just ponderin', Maine, musings, Old Yankee Man, the maine thing, unique observation • Tags: comedic writing, comedy, humor, hunting season, just ponderin', maine, maine hunting, musings, old yankee man

… on taking time to smell the offices

September 14, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

When I was a younger version of me, still in my teens, I was going to community college and had signed up with a ‘temp agency’ for some summer work because a friend told me that I could make good money and not touch food and probably not deal with the general public. Mostly I was assigned to companies who needed cheap labor to stuff envelopes for a marketing campaign, or to temporarily recept when the receptionist was away for […]

Categories: dogs, family, Feel good stuff, joy, just ponderin', memories, musings, secrets to happiness, unique observation • Tags: doing the impossible, humor, joy, overcoming odds, photography, secrets to happiness

… on a college boy’s girl

September 3, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

She watched with great confidence as Her Boy got busy earlier in the summer. She checked on Him as He sorted through the clothes and socks and shoes in the room where He slept all the years since He chose her above all others. She made sure all the bags and packages and new-smelling things that appeared in the eating room were safe. She knew some of the bags were the ones He used only when he left the house […]

Categories: child rearing, just ponderin', memories, musings, omd! (oh my dog(s)!), unique observation • Tags: a dog and her boy, boys and dogs, dogs missing people, german shepherd, just ponderin', kids going to college, photography

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