Last November, which in some ways feels like a hundred years ago, I got to travel to Poland and Slovakia with another teacher and a group of students from my school. In addition to learning a lot about World War II history and the two countries we visited, I also learned about the kinds of…
Author: caritagardiner
NetGalley Review of Savor It
(opens in new tab) title: Savor It author: Tarah DeWitt publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin publication date: May 21, 2024 pages: 336 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: death pf parents (off-page), grief, career burnout, bodily injury (off-page) summary: Sage, who has a menagerie of pets and a simple, if overly solitary life, meets Fisher, who’s…
279. Why Celebrate My Left Hand
(opens in new tab) The photo above will link you to AxeVentures, the San Diego establishment in which I managed to make a sharp blade stick into a wall of wood after enough failed attempts that I felt as elated as this pose appears. And while I threw the axe with my right hand and…
278. Why Puzzles Not Problems
I took the photo above at our cabin in Maine. We bought the jute rug to create a cozy spot by our wood stove before we thought about just how flammable that woven material is. The thing’s basically made out of kindling. At first, we flipped the rug over (as you can see above) to…
NetGalley Review of The Slowest Burn
(opens in new tab) title: The Slowest Burn author: Sarah Chamberlain publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin publication date: September 24, 2024 pages: 336 peppers: (3 on this scale) warnings: blood, alcohol, non-using alcoholic, fainting (This is the first time I remember seeing “vasovagal syncope” in a book. I feel seen — as I am writing this review…
Copy of NetGalley Review of Late Bloomer
(opens in new tab) [Dear Readers, I’m reposting this one for its publication week. You can check out the author @mazeyeddings on Instagram and @SMPromance will bring you to the publisher. Enjoy!] title: Late Bloomer author: Mazey Eddings publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin publication date: April 16, 2024 pages: 400 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: talk of…
277. Why Be Explicit
The photo above has nothing to do with this week’s topic. It’s a photo my husband made of our dog using AI. I thought about what kind of image could accompany this post’s title and realize that “explicit” has come to mean something very different from its original definition. Since my idea doesn’t connect to…
276. Why Laugh (Guest Post)
[Carita here: Hi, Readers. The photo above should give you a sense of guest blogger Sarah Zarbock’s spirit and humor. Holding a cow was on her bucket list––maybe why make and complete a bucket lists should become the topic of a future Why Wednesday––so here she is holding a cow. I’m thrilled to be able…
275. Why Engineer for Good
In November, I got to go on a trip I’ll probably write several posts about. Here’s the first of them. I took the photo above in the salt mines in Wieliczka, Poland. (If you want to see many other photos I took on that tour, please feel free to check out my Instagram post-my account…
274. Why You Know Yourself Best
[Before I get into the actual topic, I want to talk about the photo above. Our dog, Tuukka, passed away in January. He would have been eleven next month. We loved having him in our lives. I selected the photo above because I have been thinking about him and wanted to share a photo that…