(You do?? That makes me ridiculously happy. 🙂 )

How I would love to spend my birthday on a long walk with you, or even just sitting in your garden watching hummingbirds. But I’m honored to have you as a long-distance friend, who reads blogs, and writes wonderful blog herself (I do read it!).

But to your point: YES! Let’s hit the refresh button! To my mind, there’s nothing more delicious than taking a long walk with a good friend–stretching your legs, expanding your lungs, watching mother nature at work, and savoring one another’s stories. I wish with all my might that we could turn back the clock to that simpler life, where authentic voices took precedence over curated images.

Happy Birthday, Candice! xo

Carol, Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I too worry about children of today, who seem so locked to their screens, even, maybe especially, at school. A teacher told me once she couldn’t give her 4th graders “free” time to draw or write a story because the students couldn’t do anything that wasn’t associated to their Chromebook.

When I remembered that having free time in class was the best possible thing ever–to read, write, and draw–I am saddened to learn how the digital age is eroding children’s imaginations.

As for discussions on social media, I simply stay away, fearful any strong opinion will come back to bite me in the end. With face to face discussions, you can read the other person’s posture and facial expressions. You can’t do that behind a screen.

I remember long talks/discussions amongst my friends as teenagers, young adults, even as older adults debating everything from religion to politics and everything in between. Nobody got upset, everybody respected each others opinions, social media seems have stripped society of allowing a person to have an opinion that maybe out of left field.

I wish I lived in a rural part of Virginia–Fredericksburg has also changed. We are still within minutes of countryside, but there is still too much development.

Thanks for the good wishes!

I hope I’m not just preaching to the choir and that maybe some younger people will look up from their screens. They are missing so much and don’t even know it.

The Osborne is vintage! I don’t use it, we just keep it along with all the other vintage junk we have!