• Blog

    Steps

    Do you count your steps? Back when I counted mine, 10,000 seemed to be the sweet spot. Tools to measure the number of our steps flood the market. But could someone invent an app measuring the how? Are our steps hesitant or confident? Ambling or running? Faltering or steady? Weary or energetic? Measuring the how would enable us to evaluate those times we need help getting where we’re going. Most importantly, what about tracking the direction of our steps? I don’t mean geographical direction. Plenty of devices exist for that. Instead, I’m thinking of the destination to which our steps ultimately lead. Who or what are we moving toward? A…

  • Blog

    Work of Art

    My wonderful mother-in-law, Helen Teague, loved antique shops. When she visited, we’d spend hours combing the shops for a unique work of art at a bargain price. On one of these expeditions, she introduced me to Blue Ridge pottery. Southern Potteries, a plant in Erwin, Tennessee, manufactured the pottery between the 1930’s and 1950’s. Each piece is stamped with ‘Blue Ridge,’ named for the mountains surrounding the town. My sisters-in-law and I have collected pieces of the bright, cheerful dishes over the years. The hand-painted designs make each dish unique, its own work of art. Have you ever considered that you are a work of art, with a value far…

  • Blog

    Treasures and Tea Kettles

    Some of my favorite childhood memories are woven into family visits with my Grandmother and Granddad Stewart. I always felt special the second my sister and I burst through their den door. They’d hug us, exclaim how much we’d grown, and listen to my incessant chatter. A loud whistle would reverberate through the house, and Grandmother would hurry to the kitchen to move the tea kettle from the burner. She’d lift the tin cover from the cake plate and slice big pieces of chocolate cake. We’d sit in the immaculate kitchen with the starched white curtains, red countertops, and gleaming gray floors my Granddad polished the way someone from the…