blog

  • reflections.

    Or, why I’m writing on Substack and why I hope you’ll join me! I started writing on the internet in 2009. I’ve told this story before, but my foray into blogging began at the…

    September 13, 2023
  • polishing and other odd jobs.

    On my first day of work in this apartment without accompaniment from child or spouse or anyone at all, I oiled our wooden cutting boards and wooden spoons. It’s a job I usually leave…

    September 14, 2021 55 Comments
  • out of office.

    Promise I’ll be back, soon. If you’d like, follow @readtealeaves for glimpses of our time away.…

    August 23, 2019 0 Comments
  • tea notes.

    Coming soon, the return of the newsletter, with a brand-new name. It’s been nearly a year since I’ve sent a letter and I’m so excited to get back in the habit. Tea Notes will…

    April 11, 2019 0 Comments
  • Woman of Color, a Giveaway.

    It’s a special kind of thrill to have a book written by a dear friend sitting on my nightstand. A book, as I’ve said, isn’t so different than a baby. There’s the waiting and…

    April 4, 2019 2 Comments
  • to do list.

    I’ve been given myself a breathing week. A take-a-step-back-from-the-desk week. A wander-the-farmers’-market week. A dive-into-the-archive-and-remind-yourself-what-you-love week. (A rest-your-aching-back-for-heaven’s-sake week.) It’s been something like an impromptu Reading My Tea Leaves staff retreat, except of course,…

    September 13, 2018 83 Comments
  • habit shift: dot journaling.

    I’ve said before that I’m no journaler. But list writer? Yes. Goal writer-downer? Definitely. Resolutions? Not-for-the-New-Year-only. Does the start of a new school year get me hankering to buy a fresh new notebook, just because? Yes…

    September 5, 2017 41 Comments
  • a simple matters giveaway.

    It’s a cruel irony that in this corner of the world at least, the New Year begins at precisely the moment when some of us most want to hibernate until the daffodils come out. In…

    January 5, 2017 61 Comments
  • i’m with her.

    Spunky is the word that’s used to describe Faye most often. When she’s running down the sidewalk, or loudly (and proudly) introducing her cousin to shopkeepers, or swinging from the highest heights on the playground,…

    August 1, 2016 123 Comments
  • grapes and laundry

    picking grapes, sorting the laundry.

    These are things I like to write about: Joy found in spreading salted butter onto already buttery brioche. Joy in picking roadside flowers and sticking them, in all their messy glory, into a jar in…

    June 16, 2016