About

Greetings! Thanks for stopping my Peppermint Alley. I’m glad you’re here. and would love to hear from you too.

September 2020: I have rewritten this page many times over the past years that I have quietly kept this little corner of the interwebs open. When I started, I was a school teacher with two little babies wanting to connect with friends/family spread across various continents. I think in retrospect, my world was changing so quickly, and I needed some spot to remember myself as an individual entity. I have never done anything to overly share this site, it’s been more just my personal virtual playground.

April 2009, the first photograph that I uploaded. Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia

My home bases are Philadelphia during the “school year” and rural Northern Michigan during the warmer months. I’ve spent 1-2 months in Mexico over the past few falls too.

Eleven+ years later, I am on the brink of turning 40 and I’m pretty okay with that. Those babies are now 14, 12, and 6. I’m pretty satisfied with who I am and how I show up in the world. Mostly I try to be the sort of grown-up I would have wanted in my life when I was younger. And I try to live the kind of life I think I will be happy to remember when I am older.

Pre-pandemic I would have said that I mostly facilitate learning and co-run a small business called Staging Journeys that makes youth theater and takes families on world-schooling trips to places like Mexico and Peru. A lot of those things aren’t so possible right now and that’s okay. I certainly look forward to whenever we can safely get back to those things. (And also the luxury of hugs.)

Still true: I love paper goods…stationary, cards, stamps, zines… One thing that has remained relatively consistent is that I write a mostly monthly non-news newsletter, called the Peppermint Alley Press. You can sign up for it here. I like slow mail, I like the romantic excitement of opening the mail box and finding an actual letter or personal something. So I am putting some of that out into the world.

Also still true from my very first “about me” entry in 2009:

I tend to see home as something not involving a physical building.  I get homesick for people, seasonal foods, experiences, and moments of beauty more than for our house, a specific bed, etc.  So in this virtual “home” space on Peppermint Alley, I hope to capture the thoughts, pictures, and activity of being at home in my body and in the world.  I’m also the sort of person who loves to have drop-in visitors…the sort of friends who stop by with chocolate or drop in for coffee or spend a week (or month) with a tent pitched in my backyard.  I don’t know how much that sort of friendship still exists…maybe it’s because we are more busy or we live further apart… But I sure hope that stop-in friendship is out there somewhere…So stop on by… bring a favorite recipe, sample fresh biscotti, play with us, sit on our porch, leave a comment, share a story…Consider yourself more than welcome to make yourself at home.

4 thoughts on “About

  1. Ann Marie

    I love it, Linnea! I think that you should definitely keep this up; your observations are some of my favorite things to read.

  2. lisa

    the skirt from sevilla was a special memory. so are your words. thank you for creating this beautiful home. xo

  3. Lee

    Really enjoyed the many pictures and wisdom writings! Your home has been a lot of work and I got exhaused just looking at the changes. Really looks like a fine home with you all working so hard!
    Love,
    Mr T (mandy’s Daddie)

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