Holidays | Mixed Metaphors

Apr 03 2026

Posts

Till Death Do Us Part: Part II — The Middle Years

Musings on Life, Love, & Death

A Three-Part Series, the Beginning, the Middle, and the End, (Or is, it?)

“I take thee to be my wedded (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.” — Traditional Wedding Vows

From Till Death Do Us Part: Part I — The Beginning

Little did I know when I spoke those vows on March 14, 1970, that they would apply after our divorce. I’m grateful they did. It’s a gift that some of us are lucky enough to receive. It’s true for me and my former husband, Frank Schatzley. It required love, commitment, amends, letting go of resentments, and forgiveness. Did I say I was grateful? I am.

Today

As I write, I’m grieving and I’m grateful. I’ve often reflected how grief and gratitude go hand-in-hand. As a person of certain age, I’ve said goodbye to family, loved ones, friends, colleagues, and people who I never met in life, yet left a mark on me by their art, wisdom, or work on behalf of humanity or our planet. It sounds lofty when I write that on the page, yet it’s impossible not to be affected by people and their impact on us personally and the world we live in. Continue reading →

Tagged Agrace, Amends, Chosen Family, Death, Divorce, Estrangement, Family, Feminist Consciousness-Raising, Forgiveness, Frank Schatzley, Gratitude, Holidays, Home, Kenosha, Life, Love, Madison, Marriage, Musings, NOW, Open Marriage, Racine, Reconciliation, Separation, The Middle Years, Till Death Do Us Part, Wedding Vows

Dec 31 2025

Posts

The Last Chapter: Retirement Reset

Retirement Journey: Part II

“You cannot give your life more time, so give your time more life.” — Unattributed

“Instead of a human doing, I want to be a human being.” — Retirement Aspiration

A Look Back at the Year

As a person in recovery, at the end of the day, I often take a daily inventory, a review of the day to assess my successes and missteps. I ask if there are amends to be made, and how I can do better moving forward. On this eve of the New Year and my 76^th birthday in January, I continue to be a work in progress.

At the end of each year, like many others on the eve of the New Year, I look back at the highlights and lowlights — the gains and the losses — the hellos and goodbyes.

For this blog, I often write a year-in- review. Full disclosure: I’m sometimes a bit snarky in response to the holiday letters people send this time of year, yet I must admit, this is my version. I understand why it’s important to review one’s year, to celebrate wins and acknowledge losses, and if one chooses, to share with loved ones and friends. A lot happens in a day, a year, and a life. Continue reading →

Tagged 2025 Year-In-Review, 2026, A Look Ahead, A Look Back, Chosen Family, COVID-19, Family, Films, Friends, Gratitude, Holidays, Human Being, Human Doing, Intentions, Last Chapter, New Year, NYE, Recovery, Relationships, Retirement, Urge to Purge, Work Life

Dec 31 2024

Posts

Things Change: Look Back at 2024 & Look Ahead to 2025

“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” ― Gabriel García Márquez

On the Sunday before New Year’s Day, I relaxed in my recliner, watched CBS Sunday Morning — my weekly ritual — with the fireplace glowing, cozy, under my holiday gift of a soft throw. Definitely, a hygge moment. Hygee is defined as follows, “…a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).”

Continue reading →

Tagged 2024, 2025, Brother, Childhood Home, Chosen Family, COVID-19, Death, Family, Father, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Holidays, Home, Intentions, Look Ahead, Look Back, Mounjaro, New Year, Racine, Recovery, Relationships, Sisters, Things Change, Tiny Home

Sep 27 2024

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Posts

Things Change

“There is nothing permanent except change.” — Heraclitus

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” —Alan Watts

As a person of a certain age — my favorite euphemism for old —change is an undeniable truth of life. As I write, it’s the eve of autumn, the changing of the seasons, and the day before a memorial service for a coworker, confidant, and friend. Things Change has also been the theme of this year, and the title of my 17th annual journal, which begin in September. It’s also the final chapter of my life — no longer a dress rehearsal — yet an opportunity “To change the things I can” and leave a legacy behind, the measure of my life. Continue reading →

Tagged Culture, Death, Family, Father, Friends, Gratitude, Health, Holidays, Home, Loss, Love, Madison, Mother, Racine, Recovery, Relationships, Technology, Things Change, Work

Jul 14 2024

Posts

Goodbye to Our Childhood Home

You Can’t Go Home Again — Title of the novel by Thomas Wolfe

“In life, a person will come and go from many homes. We may leave a house, a town, a room, but that does not mean those places leave us. Once entered, we never entirely depart the homes we make for ourselves in the world.” — Ari Berk

“The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” — Maya Angelou

Grief and gratitude, letting go and holding on, and things change have been themes for me this past year (and longer).

Note: This reminiscence was written in response to the prompt, Home, for my Door County Write On LGBTQ+ Writers’ Group.

Continue reading →

Tagged Brother, Death, Family, Father, Gratitude, Grief, Holidays, Home, Loss, Love, Memoir, Memories, Mother, Racine, Sisters, Stories, Traditions

Feb 05 2024

Posts

The Last Goodbye

We bid farewell to our father, grandfather, and great grandfather.

“Someday I’m going to write a book about our family!” — This writer as a defiant 16-year-old.

“I look forward to reading it!” — Our beloved mother

First, I haven’t drafted and posted new content for this blog since the end of October. The past three months have been a challenge and an unexpected journey. Though I’ve not written for my blog, I’ve done more writing during this period compared to what is typical. Most of it communication with bio and chosen family, journal entries, and social media posts. Continue reading →

Tagged Blatz Party, Brother, Chosen Family, COVID-19, Death, Elegy for my father, Family, Father, Friends, Funeral, Gratitude, Grief, Holidays, Internment, Loss, Love, Memorial, Memories, Mother, Obituary, Racine, Stories, Tag Team Sisters, Tribute to my father, Visitation

Oct 10 2023

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: It’s Not Over, Till It’s Over!

“It ain’t over, till it’s over!” — Yogi Berra

This past weekend, the weather in the upper Midwest changed dramatically from unseasonably hot temperatures — 20+ degrees above normal — then dropped below normal for early fall. We went from wearing short sleeves and short pants to sweaters and sweats. We turned-off air conditioners, or closed open windows, we turned on the heat or used our fireplaces. Instead of outdoor social activities like dining al fresco, we began moving indoors.

Like the past three-and-a-half years during the pandemic which now can be classified as an endemic, most of us now get vaccinated in the fall. This year in addition to the annual flu shot and pneumococcal vaccine, there’s a new RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) immunization, plus the updated COVID vaccine protecting us from the newest variant. Health experts suggest that moving forward we will receive an annual COVID vaccine like the flu shot. Continue reading →

Tagged COVID-19, Dispatch from the Hideout, Endemic, Family, Friends, Holidays, Immunizations, Loss, Pandemic, RSV, Seasons, Things Change, Virus, Winter

Apr 09 2023

Posts

Poop Eggs, Orphan Holidays, Home Alone, & Gratitude

“For me, this holiday is a time for reflection, for renewing a spiritual connection, and for experiencing the hope and promise of the new beginnings of the spring season.” — An excerpt from my journal, Perfectly Flawed.

Leading up to Easter this year, I spent a lot of time reminiscing, rereading journal entries from holidays past and Easter-themed blog musings. Holidays, and the family rituals which we grew up with and the memories that remain, are mile markers of our journey in life. They provide a backdrop of the values and traditions of our ancestry and worship, the foundation of our beliefs. From childhood to adulthood, to this third chapter in my life, holiday traditions and rituals have evolved, some things nostalgically remain the same, others changed as I changed, and as the world changed. Continue reading →

Tagged Bio Family, Childhood Memories, Chosen Family, Death, Easter, Easter Dinner, Family, Family Traditions, Father, Friends, Holidays, Lamb Cake, Memories, Mother, Pandemic, Poop Egg, Spring, The Orphan Holidays, Things Change, Wisconsin Film Festival

Feb 05 2023

Posts

Celebrating a Decade of Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!

“Sometimes we become what we do. I became a writer by writing.”— Linda Lenzke, Blogger & More

“I write to discover what I know.” — Flannery O’Connor

Ten years ago in January, I took a WordPress class at Madison College. I decided that I wanted to take the next step as a writer: design, create, and launch a blog. I had been taking a series of reminiscence writing classes from a mentor and writing coach who would later become a friend and writing partner, Sarah White of First Person Productions. Prior to the classes, I had been writing for decades, poetry, spoken word monologues, stand-up comedy, and journaling for over 30 years. The reminiscence classes were a launchpad for my memoir, Perfectly Flawed, which I’m still writing, editing, and adding content as I live and write. Continue reading →

Tagged Blog, COVID-19, Death, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Films, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Holidays, Home, LGBTQ, Love, Memoir, Memories, Mixed Metaphors Oh My!, Personal Narratives, Recovery, Relationships, Seasons, Stories, Writing

Jan 22 2023

Posts

It Takes a Village: Lessons Learned

“We are all in this together.” ― Hillary Rodham Clinton, It Takes a Village

“Accepting help is its own kind of strength.” ― Kiera Cass

February will be the 10^th Anniversary of my blog, Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! When I began designing it, I first needed to determine why I write. I saw it first as an extension of my journals, except I would invite others to read what I wrote. From the About section of the blog, Why I Write:

First, I consider myself a journalist, not the fact-checking, who, what, where, and when kind of reporter – but the gut-checking – why did this, or why is this happening to me or others and what can I learn from the experience – activist-essayist and memoirist. I keep journals, write memoirs and personal narratives as a record of my journey and exploration inward, allowing me to excavate and externalize aspects of my essence and experience, bringing them out of the shadows and into the light. Journaling and writing personal narratives is the process of first becoming aware, accepting and embracing what I have uncovered, followed by the charting of a new course. Continue reading →

Tagged Bio Family, Blog, Chosen Family, COVID-19, Friends, Gratitude, Hip Replacement, Holidays, It Takes a Village, Lessons Learned, Love, Pod Squad, Recliner, Recovery, Relationships, Sisters, Stories

Mixed Metaphors

Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.

Tag Archives: Holidays

Till Death Do Us Part: Part II — The Middle Years

The Last Chapter: Retirement Reset

Things Change: Look Back at 2024 & Look Ahead to 2025

Things Change

Goodbye to Our Childhood Home

The Last Goodbye

Dispatch from the Hideout: It’s Not Over, Till It’s Over!

Poop Eggs, Orphan Holidays, Home Alone, & Gratitude

Celebrating a Decade of Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!

It Takes a Village: Lessons Learned