empty nest | just ponderin'

… on nicknames lived up to

May 11, 2017 by Lisa Dingle

The Disposable Shack. Disposed. Well, not quite. But now I am thinking it was so unfair to refer to this wonderful home as the Disposable Shack for so long. It all began… well, actually I don’t remember how it all began. I think it was as we were making the decision that The Inn – our Maine house that was once (in the early 1900s – really an inn, but is not really an inn anymore… anyway, I think it […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: empty nest, everyday life, family, home, joy, just ponderin', musings, secrets to happiness, selling the family home

… on pondering along with an understudy

April 18, 2017 by Lisa Dingle

Meet The Understudy – the at-the-ready stand in for the Sam’s now-crunched automotive star (unable to go on). This is her, prior to meeting her new human way down yonder in New Orleans. I should note here that we have some gender fluidity with The Understudy. I see a ‘her’, Sam sees a ‘him’. So far The Understudy has not chosen a pronoun so you’ll need to bear with us… and since I am writing this, and have all the power (mwahahaha!), I […]

Categories: aspiring maine-iacs, family, Feel good stuff, joy, just ponderin', musings, my perfect cherubs, secrets to happiness, unique observation • Tags: empty nest, humor, joy, just ponderin', musings, New Orleans, NoLA, photography, secrets to happiness, selling the family home, wedding planning stress

… on life stuff, all of it and all at once… always

April 4, 2017 by Lisa Dingle

This morning we awoke to a pop and the sound of our beloved fan, the one we turn on each night for its pleasing hum, spinning down. Full disclosure: That pleasing hum is a side benefit of our fan’s original purpose of masking, if only slightly, the dulcet sounds of JoHn’s snoring purring as well as the mitigating of any possible mental-pause sweating blushing that I might experience, if I experienced that sort of thing. Anyway, the power had gone out. JoHn […]

Categories: aspiring maine-iacs, family, Feel good stuff, joy, just ponderin', memories, musings, secrets to happiness, Uncategorized, unique observation • Tags: empty nest, joy, just ponderin', maine, musings, photography, secrets to happiness

… on dreams of sleeping with the enemy

February 26, 2017 by Lisa Dingle

Okay, here’s how it’s going. Let’s start with the fact that ‘The Disposable Shack’ is an ironic title. It only became ‘disposable’ once we decided we were moving to Maine and this house that we built and intended to live in for, like, the rest of our lives would most likely be sold while we were, indeed, alive. Also, it is not a shack.* Sigh. Nor is it small. So there are many places and spaces inside The Disposable Shack that I have […]

Categories: aspiring maine-iacs, dogs, Dunstable, family, Feel good stuff, home, joy, just ponderin', Maine, memories, musings, secrets to happiness • Tags: empty nest, household organization, humor, joy, just ponderin', moving, musings, pantry organization, photography, secrets to happiness, Sleeping with the Enemy

… on five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred… legos

January 26, 2017 by Lisa Dingle

Yesterday, the Nearly Perfect Husband (also known in these parts as ‘Daddy’ (Marshal), ‘Fah-sah’ (Gabe), ‘But Daaaaad’ (Mac), and – depending on what he is doing (or not doing) – several other monikers that shall remain under literary lock and key. Oh. I also call him JoHn. Anyway, JoHn and I were in the midst of cleaning out our closet yesterday. The one… in the bedroom. The one that we filled up – in 2004 when we moved here – […]

Categories: child rearing, Dunstable, family, Feel good stuff, home, joy, just ponderin', Love, memories, musings, my perfect cherubs, unique observation • Tags: 525, 600 minutes, empty nest, family, joy, just ponderin', kids, legos, moving, musings, Rent, Seasons of Love

… on a new tradition

December 5, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

I have two nieces whom I refer to as my practice kids. And, now that they are all grown up and have responsible jobs and are married and have kids, I now have… practice grandkids. I know! Totally awesome. I get to ease into the whole grandparent thing, like, decades (did you hear that Mac and Jack?) before I really need to know how to do it for real. Also, it is awesome because I got to make all my mistakes on […]

Categories: child rearing, Christmas, family, Feel good stuff, holidays, home, joy, just ponderin', musings, my perfect cherubs, secrets to happiness • Tags: Christmas, Christmas Village, comedic writing, comedy, empty nest, family, musings, photography

… on my-byself, but not

November 1, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

This morning I tumbled out of bed, nearly literally. All my-byself. It was early, and JoHn has been away for an unexpectedly long time helping Number One Son Sam extricate himself from the clutches of a landlord (‘land’ being generous) who seems to have decided that a termite infestation, and the resulting… you know… absence of things like floor support – along with other super skeevy pest-y things – are not really his responsibility. This will all be okay, of course. A learning […]

Categories: child rearing, family, Feel good stuff, joy, just ponderin', memories, musings, my perfect cherubs, secrets to happiness • Tags: empty nest, family, joy, just ponderin', photography, secrets to happiness

… 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 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

just ponderin'

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