Beth Carpenter Books

Valentine's Day is a day for love, especially romantic love. The day can be tricky for new couples, trying to feel out each other's expectations.  I've known of pragmatic, completely unsentimental women who feel cheated at anything less than a romantic campaign worthy of Napoleon, including flowers, candy, expensive dinners, and jewelry. Worse, from their boyfriend's point of view, they expect to be surprised. Some romantics are thrilled to tears over a simple card. Still others refuse to let the calendar dictate the level of romance in their lives, and find the whole idea pushy and annoying. Seldom are both halves of a new couple in the same camp. Valentine’s is easier for those of us lucky enough to have been married forever. I can’t speak for other long-married couples, but our celebration is usually low-key. I'll probably make something special for dinner, with a decedent dessert most likely involving dark chocolate. We'll exchange cards and small gif...

I saw this article from Good Housekeeping listing some items that create a happy environment in the home, and we can all use some extra happiness, right? So I decided to take inventory.  9 Things Science Says Your Home Needs If You Want to Be Happy 1. Green or yellow walls - Check. Not bright yellow, but I think that brownish yellow counts. It's actually yellower than it looks in the photo.       2. Fresh flowers - Not at the moment, although I'm a big fan and I'm sure I'll be bringing home a primrose or bunch of daffodils soon. In the meantime, I have fake ones, as well as a pretty floral pattern on the shower curtain. Does that count? 3. and 4. Sentimental photos and v anilla candles - Check.  5. A journal - That would be this blog, and I agree that reading over old posts and comments does make me happy. 6. Furry friends - Check. She's definitely a day-brightener, even if she does think sq...

This is a sampler my husband’s ninety-eight-year-old grandmother made us for Christmas. Isn’t it pretty? I loved it as soon as we unwrapped it, but it took a little while before the message sunk in. I've made some vague attempts to eat better and exercise, but I’m more than two weeks late with official New Year’s resolutions. (Confession: Stop procrastinating may have been a former year’s resolution, but that’s water under the bridge.) Anyway, I read a New Year’s blog talking about picking a word for the year instead of making resolutions. I’d been playing with the idea but no particular word had yet resonated with me. Then I walked by the sampler and realized the lesson I need is right there in front of me. It really is the small things. For example, I love my husband. I love him enough that I’d give him a kidney, take care of him if her were very ill, even die for him. But do I love him enough to really listen when he explains every detail of some project he’s plan...

A neighbor of mine has an ongoing problem. He lives on a curve at the end of a long straightway, and when the road gets icy, at least one car will inevitably take the corner too fast and slide. As a result, he’s been through a lot of mailboxes. He tried bigger, sturdier posts, but they were still no match for a two-ton truck sliding on the ice. At least once every winter the mailbox would go, and he’d have to prop up the broken pole in a bucket and wait until the ground thawed to try again. Finally, he hit upon the solution: bend instead of break. He rigged up this sawhorse support for his mailbox. When a car sends it flying, he simply has to unfold it, anchor it with a couple of big rocks, and set it up again. Genius. This time of year, I tend to make these promises to myself to lose weight, get organized, and be more productive everyday, and yet somehow, it doesn’t happen. Something comes sliding in off the ice and wipes out my good intentions. This year, I’m trying to t...

It's that in-between time. Christmas is over but the new year hasn't yet started. Here in Anchorage, it's dark. Today we only have five hours and thirty-three minutes of daylight, and the sky is overcast so even that daylight is gray and flat. On top of that, we're having a Chinook, a warm wind that blows down the mountains and is melting our meager covering of snow, so once the sun goes down, parking lots will be ice rinks and the night will be that much darker. But things are looking up. We have almost ten minutes more of daylight than we did on winter solstice a week ago. The new year is coming, along with resolutions and goals and a chance for new beginnings. Summer will come again, and the world will be green. And, as a consolation for the nasty wind, just look at this morning's sunrise behind the Chugach mountains.  A new day begins ... Happy New Year!

The scent of a fresh evergreen tree has to be the loveliest smell of Christmas. Unless it's baking cookies.  Or peppermint candy canes.  Cloves and cinnamon sticks in spiced tea?  Sage and roasting turkey? Wood smoke from neighbor's chimneys? Whatever your favorite Christmas smells like, I hope yours was perfect, and that  all your Christmas Wishes came true.   Merry Christmas and wishing the Happiest New Year to you and yours. -Beth

It’s that time of the year when my reading preferences, which tend toward to sentimental anyway, veer into what some would call sappy. I love a good Christmas story, with tears and laughter, redemption and happily ever after. Cold dark nights, a warm cup of tea, and a dog to curl up beside me on the couch make this the perfect time of the year to settle in for a read. Yes, traditionally, the dog would be at my feet, but Roxy insists if she's under my blanket, we'll both be warmer. There are a few stories I visit almost every year, like favorite relatives. First is the classic, Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol .  The ultimate story of redemption, Ebeneezer Scrooge becomes a new man overnight after seeing ghostly visitors. What may be my all time favorite, Winter Solstice  by Rosemunde Pilcher, is the story of a man who’s lost everything and the people, especially one amazing woman, who bring joy back into his life. Recently I finished a wonderful...