Jessie Newburn – Page 13 – Jessie Newburn Writer

Ever evolving

CultchaJanuary 7, 2024534Views 0Likes 0Comments

When I was around 12 or 13 years-old and babysitting back in the mid-'70s -- yep, you read that right: I was babysitting other people's children, on the regular, at age 12 with zero babysitting classes under my belt and no insight or info on childcare other than watching over my younger sibs when my…

Sequence matters

ExperiencesJanuary 7, 2024962Views 0Likes 0Comments

The order in which things are said, done or occur matters in many instances and in others, not at all. It matters, for example, whether I put the oil in the saucepan and heat it before I add the onions when I'm sautéing up some fresh greens, but the sequence doesn't matter if I eat those…

So cozy and warm

Tips for an Orderly LifeJanuary 6, 2024877Views 0Likes 0Comments

As winter sets in and temperatures drop, being warm and cozy starts to climb higher on my list of priorities. Despite layering myself in warm wools for sleep (wool socks for sure, a worn and somewhat hole-dotted long merino skirt around my legs and a cashmere or merino sweater long past its prime on top), I've…

I can make some soup!

Little BitsJanuary 5, 2024668Views 0Likes 0Comments

Oh my goodness, but can I make some soup! Yesterday, I boiled a few potatoes and onion in some beef bouillon and (the end of the tube) Vegemite, then pureed it all in my fab Vitamix, then threw in some pork tenderloin I'd just cooked. Pureed that in, too. Added some sour cream and voilà! I'm eating…

It ain’t always pretty

NatureJanuary 4, 2024837Views 0Likes 0Comments

You may not give it much thought, but there is so much involved in getting those perfectly-shaped, blemish-free, robust-looking veggies to the store. I know because they rarely emerge from the garden. As one who is mostly supplied labor to my mother's passion for gardening and growing vegetables and fruits, I marvel, for example, at…

Ever so deserving

Little BitsJanuary 4, 20241KViews 0Likes 0Comments

When my father died a few years ago and left a muddled and messy estate behind, we desperately needed an estate lawyer. As the estates's personal representative, I asked a lawyer whose opinion I trusted (Sherae McNeal) for a recommendation, and she encouraged me to contact Jessica M. Gorsky. I did. And of the many decisions…

Take it down a notch, please

Little BitsJanuary 3, 2024877Views 0Likes 0Comments

Yesterday I had an appointment at an office that has quite a few patients come through in a given day. Someone had come into the office before me -- whether that was an hour before, two hours before ... IDK. But I do know they were wearing some sort of scent. Some perfume or…

My mom’s art

Little BitsJanuary 3, 2024888Views 0Likes 0Comments

My mother is an artist. (She's also many other things, but she is an artist, for sure.) I just love her work! When she was a child in an immigrant-rich, crowded and filled-to-the-gills, coal-mining town in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, her tiny elementary school provided art and music classes one day a month. As my mom tells it, the…

The mother of invention

Tips for an Orderly LifeJanuary 3, 2024924Views 0Likes 0Comments

Now that the winter holidays season has mostly passed, I can speak. I'm not saying when or where this happened, but I will say that I was able to offload a what-am-I-gonna-do-with-this? bottle of spiked eggnog that was brought to a small holiday party at my place, (but not taken home by the bringer of said…

Seed-lending library love

Little BitsJanuary 2, 2024875Views 0Likes 0Comments

For the past few months, anytime anyone in our (small, but mighty) family spoke with my sister Rebecca, we got an earful about the Global Seed Library Census project she was spearheading. Well, it's finally done and published! Long a seed-saver herself, my sister founded Richmond Grows Seed-lending Library in the Bay Area in 2010. That…

Xena! … and friend

CultchaJanuary 2, 2024955Views 0Likes 0Comments

I came home this evening from running some errands and wanted to watch a little TV while eating dinner before I began a project on my radar this evening. I've heard Neil Howe (the generations expert at whose feet I bow) mention Xena: Warrior Princess quite a few times in talking about the Gen X archetype…

From this broken hill

CultchaDecember 31, 20231KViews 0Likes 0Comments

Leonard Cohen is one of my favorite singers of all time. I've danced to his music, cried to his music and felt connected to the full spectrum of humanity listening to his music. As I imagine it does with others, his Hallelujah song reaches into the center of my being, raising me up to the…