The power of a watch on a wrist always amazes me. While it tracks to the second, the moments of history leaving benchmarks for us to recall achievements, experiences, loves, losses and friends. At the same time a wristwatch grabs our desires, fears, opinions and our very lives by the throat leaving us as mere bystanders who can’t indulge in a single moment. Take off your watch for one week and you’ll see what I mean. [Read more →]
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Decision-making is making me crazy. Holly and I are in the midst of another life-changing decision. Do we stay in the really cool town with really cool friends and a really cool house that we renovated so artfully and romantically? Or… Do we move to a new city in a far-away really romantic state and accept a position that I’m incredibly suited to and join a team of people that I’d dearly love to work with? While we’ve not made the decision yet, I’ve already learned some things about decision-making that you just have to know. [Read more →]
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Last weekend Holly and I toured studio after studio on the annual Studio Art Tour in our county. It was a thousand times better than a gallery tour because we visited our artist friends in their studios, homes, yards, basements, garden sheds, garages and old school houses. We hung with our companions where they lived and worked. We saw them where their soul resides. I recognized that how and who you hang with has a powerful impact on how successful you are in your creative pursuits. Here’s how you can align your relationships, friendships and family so that they feed your artist rather than choke it.
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→ No CommentsTags: Romantic Living · Art and Creativity · Writing
I honestly didn’t buy the house for the rhubarb plant, but I admit, had the thought occurred to me, I certainly would have entertained it.
Last fall, when we bought this house, the rhubarb plant was anything but attractive. The seed stalks were six feet tall and drying out. Not a pretty sight. We cleaned it all up last fall leaving a nice spot for the new crop. This spring, the huge leaves erupted everywhere. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a massive rhubarb plant. Yesterday, we and our good friends, sliced into the maiden rhubarb pie of our new home. It was tart, sweet, cool, pink and absolutely fabulous. Get Mom’s Rhubarb Pie recipe here. [Read more →]
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It’s spring and the color of flowers lifts everyone’s spirits. Flowers are God’s way of assuring us that life endures, hope reigns and love is in the air. Sunday, my youngest son and I took a hike along the river north of our town. 
The forest floor was completely blanketed with these trout lilies. A sure sign of spring that gives you a feeling that all is pure and right.
Yesterday, we were in a German restaurant celebrating our youngest son’s birthday. I noticed a couple come into the restaurant and they noticed a large bouquet of flowers in a vase right away. The lady came over and felt the leaves and flowers [Read more →]
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The worst times are usually the most romantic times. Holly’s laughing this morning. While I’d like it if it had something to do with me, I must admit that it’s likely her new bed. Don’t get any ideas, I wasn’t feeling all that great last night.
Last night was the culmination of a seven-month nightmare. We had this great idea that after we returned from Russia we’d buy this ingenious fold-out bed from Ikea. With one hand you’re able to transform your couch into a bed or your bed into a couch. The theory was that in daytime our room could be a living room / lounge type thing and at night it would with one hand transform into our love nest — all thanks to Ikea ingenuity.
The concept was a good one, but experience proved otherwise. It wasn’t a one-handed wonder like we expected. In fact, once we returned the first bed that broke, the replacement bed actually required both lovers to fold and unfold.
It’s like being a newlywed again going from mattress to mattress
Yesterday, we packed up the whole mess: mattress, frame and all and returned it to the store. We had our magic in-store credit card in hand and set out on our hunt for a new experience in love-nest comfort. [Read more →]
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Just over a year ago, Holly and I launched our site, The Romantic Way. We were looking for something to do in our spare time, a creative outlet and an opportunity for me to write and post my photography in a forum other than just another photo album. So, we signed up with SiteSell, a wonderful and inexpensive way for newbies like us to learn about running a web site with relatively little pain. At first it was mechanical, but after we learned the concepts, it became creative. Thus, TheRomanticWay.com was born!
When working with the SiteSell system, you choose your best site concept — a topic you love and know about which has good demand on the web. Those couple of weeks were a great adventure for us. We could hardly wait to get to our time to work on the website, brainstorming all kinds of different topics that tugged at our hearts. One theme kept emerging, however. That’s right — romance. [Read more →]
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It was a night of soul struggle after a miserable trek into the Grand Canyon. “They hang there like , the stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the blue like jazz,” writes Don Miller in Blue Like Jazz. One always wonders where an author gets his quirky titles. Especially the good ones. [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: Media and Literature · Spirituality
Call me a miser, but I put my money where it counts. When I can go wild with only a few bucks, for some reason the thrill is even greater. I think it comes from my passion to live on little and enjoy it a lot.
When it comes to cooking, there are those items which beckon to be purchased because of the sensuous flavor, exotic aroma, or simply the experience. These special ingredients just put a romantic dinner over the top. Things come to mind like a vanilla bean, aromatic cheese, new red potatoes or in the case of last night’s dinner, Leinie’s Creamy Dark Lager Beer. [Read more →]
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All romantics suffer from a terminal book habit. Hello. My name is Rod, and I’m a bookaholic. It doesn’t matter what; I just read. I’m fascinated with just about anything. Consequently, I don’t know a lot about anything, but I know a little about everything. And books just do it for me. I love the feel of books in my hands, feel the heft, run my hands across the pages and be it either new or old inhale the scent.
My advice is to not resist. Feed the habit. Here’s what I do:
Buy cheap. If you buy cheap, then you can get more books for the money you allow yourself to spend and you don’t suffer the guilt of having spent way too much on just one or two books. Here are some good ideas on how to buy cheap. [Read more →]
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