Kathleen Cassen Mickelson

Mid-September Mindset

What is your September mood? Mine is quiet.

I often think how lucky I am: lucky to have a clean and safe house, enough food, plenty of clothing, enough disposable income to help my kids and still go out to dinner. And, at a more basic level, I am lucky to still be on this earth at the age of 63. Growing olderContinue reading “Aging: Face It, Embrace It”

Last Message for an Old Friend

Zola was a friend for over 25 years. She was one of my biggest champions when it came to my writing. We were both graduate students at Hamline University in St. Paul in the late 90s. We were both members of the International Association of Business Communicators back when we both worked in offices. We both loved travel, although Zola hadn’t traveled much these past several years for health reasons……How lucky was I that someone in my life pushed the boundaries and let her exuberance fly?

Summer Magic

t’s been a magical couple of weeks around here. Our wild backyard has had lots of visitors. For a house in an urban area, we have more creatures passing through than I would have imagined when we moved here 25 years ago.

Introspection on a Stormy Summer Evening

I’m sitting at my dining room table on a Tuesday evening, patio door open to birds twittering their evening songs, air humid, sky rumbling. A big storm is on the way, according to the weather app on my phone.

Midsummer 2022

I’ve struggled with what to say in today’s post because, like millions of other Americans, I’m carrying so much disappointment, anger, frustration, and more over the recent Roe v. Wade decision. I’ve also been thinking how important refuge is right this minute – places where voices can fade away and arguments be suspended to allowContinue reading “Midsummer 2022”

Poetics of Travel: Ireland 2022

It was with a certain amount of pandemic-induced trepidation that I packed my 40-liter backpack for 10 days in Ireland the evening of May 27. In the morning, my partner Mick, our friends Mark and Mary, and I boarded a plane to Chicago, landed at O’Hare, boarded another plane to Dublin. We arrived in Dublin at the crack of dawn on a Sunday, then headed north in a rented Opel Crossland with a manual transmission.

A Little Irish Magic

Today’s post is on the fly. One Minnesota Crone is on the road. Whatever you’re doing as June kicks off, may it be something that opens your eyes.

Adaptation

The day after Mother’s Day, I decide to putz around in the garden. It’s been a long, cold spring; everything is emerging later than usual. My patience has worn thin, but not with the garden. With people.

The Creative Self and the Mother Self

Here in Roseville, Minnesota, it’s been a long cool journey from winter to this month of flowers popping open, trees in bloom, nesting birds, and Mother’s Day. This year, snow fell here the day after Easter and again some days after that. It was so disappointing, even if it did melt immediately. But May Day is upon us. We are unquestionably on our way to summer. And I’m thinking about motherhood. May does that to me.