Some seasons of life quietly pull you in a different direction. Priorities change. Projects change. And sometimes you discover that something you set aside still feels very much like home.
That’s what happened with Thimble & Tansy.
I never really stopped thinking about this little corner of the internet. It holds too many of the things I love — gardening, cooking, needlework, family stories, home, and the ordinary bits and pieces of life that somehow become the things we remember.
So, Thimble & Tansy is back.
Not with a complicated plan or a publishing schedule I have to keep up with. I’m simply making room for it again.
A Place for the Things I Love
The garden will certainly be here.
Gardening in Florida has taught me that things don’t always go according to plan. There are rabbits, heat, humidity, storms, plants that inexplicably die and others that thrive where I never intended them to grow.
And yet, I keep planting.
There’s something grounding about pulling weeds, starting seeds, discovering a new bloom and walking outside in the morning to see what changed overnight — usually with Chester supervising from the comfort of the lanai.
The kitchen belongs here, too. Recipes I’ve made for years, things I’m trying for the first time, bread baking, comfort food and the handwritten recipe cards that connect us to people and places we remember.
Then there are quilting and cross stitch — two things that have been part of my life for a very long time. Needle, thread, fabric and pattern remind me that something beautiful doesn’t have to be made quickly. It just has to be made one stitch at a time.
And there will be stories.
Old photographs. Family history. Genealogy discoveries. Memories that surface unexpectedly. The people who came before us and the stories we don’t want to lose.
All of those things belong here because they’re part of the life I actually live.
And a Little Bit About Being Ready
You’ll also find something here I’m calling The Ready Home.
I’ve spent a lot of time writing about preparedness, and I’ve come to believe that being prepared fits naturally into tending a home.
It’s keeping food in the pantry.
Knowing where the flashlights are when the power goes out.
Having important papers where you can find them.
Growing some of your own food if you can.
And doing a few things ahead of time so that when life gets complicated, you don’t have to start from zero.
Nothing extreme. Nothing frightening.
Just practical ways to make home a little more resilient and life a little more peaceful.
What You’ll Find Here
There may be a garden post one week and a family recipe the next. I might show you what I’m cross stitching, tell you about something I discovered while researching an ancestor, share a project around the house, or write about something completely unexpected.
That’s the beauty of Thimble & Tansy.
It doesn’t have to fit neatly into one box.
Neither do I.
This isn’t going to be a picture-perfect version of life. There will be weeds in the garden, unfinished projects, recipes that don’t turn out quite right and probably a cat wandering into photographs where he wasn’t invited.
That’s real life.
And that’s what I want Thimble & Tansy to be about.
So I’m opening the door again.
No big promises. No complicated plan.
Just a place to grow things, make things, remember things and share a little of life along the way.
Thimble & Tansy is back. And this time, I’m simply going to enjoy it.