I was wondering where you went! I'm so glad your letter popped up. It's awesome you can work from there. I just told my sister last night that the Catalpa in her yard is maybe a vanilla bean tree, but now I know! Maybe they had the same salesperson.
ALSO: I could not love this passage more:
"Writing that title from my backyard balcony in rural Iowa, with birds chirping and buzzards circling, sounds like total nonsense.
To be fair, “chief of staff at a tech company” probably sounds like total nonsense in most places.
But when I open my work laptop, suddenly it’s the buzzards and catalpas that sound like nonsense."
I would love it if the same salesperson took catalpas all around the midwest, like a less famous Johnny Catalpaseed 😂 The pods do look like vanilla beans!
Glad to hear from you too - hope the writing is going well!
Congrats on the new job! Great to hear from you again. I'm glad I could provide a small nudge. Reading about the disconnect between your San Francisco life and Iowa life is always interesting.
Found you via Anna Sale. I've just moved from rural northern Wisconsin to Mill Valley -- so identifying bigtime with straddling two very different galaxies, loving them both, trying to find equilibrium -- and keep my golden retriever happy in the process! Congrats on your new gig -- and eager to read more of your stuff.
I'm very familiar with Mill Valley - less familiar with northern Wisconsin, although I had a memorable family vacation where I insisted we go to Pepin to see the Little House in the Big Woods site (a detour no one was happy about 😊). I can imagine the galaxies you're straddling!
Good luck with this new chapter - I hope you and the pup enjoy settling in. Thank you for reading!
So glad you’re back. I share your love of catalpa trees—they’re all over Pueblo, and so extravagant. Those little cigars, though—when a kid brought one in the back door, I knew because I stated instantly sneezing. The one on your yard looks spectacular.
There was a catalpa next door to my house in Denver, and I swore at the time I wouldn't have one because of the mess the pods made. But now that I have them in Iowa, I feel like I will always want them!
Thank you!! It really is kind of the best of both worlds (although I would like to be able to order takeout on the nights I work late ;). So far it's going well, although I miss our writing dates!
What a treat to have another post arrive. Hope the job is going as well as these things can. Happy to see you’re finding time to write while recharging the money aquifer.
Things are going as well as jobs can go - and I feel like I'm learning some new things, which is always good for my monkey mind. I'll fill you in on my next trip to SoCal 😉
Hi, So happy to read you today! the news is full of the rains in Iowa and, as an Iowan, this is newsworthy since I don't recall ever experiencing a flood during my childhood. I was especially resonating with this: "I don’t know what will sprout up in this newsletter now that I’m splitting my time between writing and a day job." Ain't it true? I ride that world almost daily and it takes a special saddle to make it comfortable. I'm always wanting to be where I am not. Just keep writing when you can.
It was only a matter of time. You're living your best life <3
lol, that's true, my circles through tech/writing are inevitable 😊
I was wondering where you went! I'm so glad your letter popped up. It's awesome you can work from there. I just told my sister last night that the Catalpa in her yard is maybe a vanilla bean tree, but now I know! Maybe they had the same salesperson.
ALSO: I could not love this passage more:
"Writing that title from my backyard balcony in rural Iowa, with birds chirping and buzzards circling, sounds like total nonsense.
To be fair, “chief of staff at a tech company” probably sounds like total nonsense in most places.
But when I open my work laptop, suddenly it’s the buzzards and catalpas that sound like nonsense."
I would love it if the same salesperson took catalpas all around the midwest, like a less famous Johnny Catalpaseed 😂 The pods do look like vanilla beans!
Glad to hear from you too - hope the writing is going well!
Congrats on the new job! Great to hear from you again. I'm glad I could provide a small nudge. Reading about the disconnect between your San Francisco life and Iowa life is always interesting.
Thank you again for the nudge ❤️
Found you via Anna Sale. I've just moved from rural northern Wisconsin to Mill Valley -- so identifying bigtime with straddling two very different galaxies, loving them both, trying to find equilibrium -- and keep my golden retriever happy in the process! Congrats on your new gig -- and eager to read more of your stuff.
I'm very familiar with Mill Valley - less familiar with northern Wisconsin, although I had a memorable family vacation where I insisted we go to Pepin to see the Little House in the Big Woods site (a detour no one was happy about 😊). I can imagine the galaxies you're straddling!
Good luck with this new chapter - I hope you and the pup enjoy settling in. Thank you for reading!
So glad you’re back. I share your love of catalpa trees—they’re all over Pueblo, and so extravagant. Those little cigars, though—when a kid brought one in the back door, I knew because I stated instantly sneezing. The one on your yard looks spectacular.
There was a catalpa next door to my house in Denver, and I swore at the time I wouldn't have one because of the mess the pods made. But now that I have them in Iowa, I feel like I will always want them!
BIG congrats on the new job! I love that you're holding down a tech job in rural Iowa... isn't that kind of the best of both worlds?????
Thank you!! It really is kind of the best of both worlds (although I would like to be able to order takeout on the nights I work late ;). So far it's going well, although I miss our writing dates!
Gorgeous writing, as always. Loved the line about it being your story alone to tell.
thank you ❤️
What a treat to have another post arrive. Hope the job is going as well as these things can. Happy to see you’re finding time to write while recharging the money aquifer.
Things are going as well as jobs can go - and I feel like I'm learning some new things, which is always good for my monkey mind. I'll fill you in on my next trip to SoCal 😉
Hi, So happy to read you today! the news is full of the rains in Iowa and, as an Iowan, this is newsworthy since I don't recall ever experiencing a flood during my childhood. I was especially resonating with this: "I don’t know what will sprout up in this newsletter now that I’m splitting my time between writing and a day job." Ain't it true? I ride that world almost daily and it takes a special saddle to make it comfortable. I'm always wanting to be where I am not. Just keep writing when you can.