This space is reserved for Debbie’s Blatherings, which a personal blog she began back in April 1997. She be gradually moving over her posts from that blog but will be doing some editing since many of the links and images are broken because of multiple platform moves (including Greymatter, Moveable Type, Wordpress, Livejournal, and Squarespace). Thanks for your patience!
(Revised and expanded from my One Thing I’ve Learned blog post, Oct. 6, 2026) I‘m a longtime fan of DIY (Do-It-Yourself) art kits that I can take with me when on the road. Yes, I do still have commercial travel art kits as well….but I find that just like expensive . . .
This post was also published today in my One Thing I’ve Learned social blog. I used to ONLY read books in print form. I’d secretly think that audiobooks and e-books weren’t “real” books. Now? I read books in all formats. I still love the tactile experience of holding a print . . .
Note: this post was originally posted in my new Blatherings blog on 2026-09-01. I’ve been working on this post for weeks now, rewriting and editing and rewriting again. One of the reasons is because things keep changing (for the better, IMHO). I’ve decided to just go ahead and post what . . .
I gave up on concrete New Year’s Resolutions years ago. Inevitably, they led to disappointment and self-recrimination. Instead, I choose a theme word. My word for 2025, like 2024, was “Simplify.” I aimed to simplify things in my life, both digitally and in person, and thus carve out more time . . .
I am bursting with auntly pride: Jeff and I were watching the miniseries Fleischman Is In Trouble, and we spotted our niece, Olivia Ridpath, in Episode 4! Olivia has wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember. She has always loved to sing and act. She’s . . .
Reprinted from a 2001 Blatherings post. Since my mother died and especially since my brother and his wife died, Christmas has never been the greatest time of the year for me. The insistent Christmas carols piped into shopping malls, the glitter and party atmosphere, the increased barrage of BUYBUYBUY…I get cranky, . . .
This post has been moved over from my old website. In June/2000, I sold my Web site to a start-up in the the U.S. and moved to Philadelphia for six months as an employee. My experience there was enlightening, to say the least. After the Internet craze meltdown, my husband and I . . .
(Shortlink: https://debbieohi.link/ClearTheList) UPDATED June 1st, 2023: I have a new Twitter thread for educators with crowd-funding projects. Teachers spent an average of $750 out of their own pockets for classroom supplies during the 2020-2021, according to a survey by AdoptAClassroom.org. Many teachers started using the hashtag #clearthelist on social media . . .
Photo: With Carrie Davies at Nerd Camp. I continue to be grateful to school librarians for sharing my books and works by fellow creators with young readers. I was lucky enough to meet teacher librarian Carrie Davies (see photo above) in person at Nerd Camp Michigan years ago. I’ve also . . .
I’ve never considered myself a cook. Don’t get me wrong; I used to enjoy cooking, back when we lived out in the countryside and when I was still trying to get published and had more time. I was never one of those intuitive cooks, however, and my rare attempts to . . .