Today marks what would have been my 21st wedding anniversary – an occasion that still catches my breath a little, even after all these years.…
Today is Sunday, 26 April, and I find myself reflecting on my first Sunday, 26 April. It was 17 years ago, and it marked the…
It’s hard to believe that 52 is here already. It feels like only a decade ago that I was the answer to life, the universe,…
I purchased some Conversation Hearts when I was home for Christmas*, and when I opened them this morning, I was flooded with childhood memories of…
My focus for 2026 is monotasking or “single‑tasking,” as it’s sometimes called. It sounds deceptively simple, but I know it will be a real challenge…
Yes, it is that time of year once again: The end of it, when I look back at all that I did (and that I…
My main objective for 2025 was simple in theory but surprisingly complex in practice: reflection. More specifically, I wanted to reflect on my long list…
The dining room in my family home in America has been adorned with gaudy gold-toned floral wallpaper for decades. The large flowers are not to…
Today marks two decades since I married the love of my life. Twenty years. The number hangs in the air, heavy with memories, yet surprisingly…
Sixteen years. When I say that number out loud, it still feels both impossibly long and, at the same time, like just yesterday. Sixteen years…
Wow! JustFrances.com hit the 15-year milestone today! I don’t know that I expected that when I first registered the domain, but here I am, marking…
I almost never “talk politics” here on Just Frances, but today I am making an exception. Because today is a hard day for me, as…
I am a goal-setter and, mostly, a goal-getter. But sometimes I set too many overly ambitious goals, and I struggle to meet them. It’s not…
For 2024, I set out to breathe new life into old things, and I managed that – although it will be an ongoing objective as…
As I sit on the entrance ramp towards 2025, it’s time to look back at the road I travelled in 2024 and all the goodness*…
Today is International Pronouns Day, so please let me introduce myself to you, again. (And again.) Hello, my name is Frances, and my pronouns are…
Today marks 19 years since I became Mrs Ryan. And much like every year when this day comes around, I am feeling quite sad that…
Today marks 15 years since my husband’s death and that means I am doing a lot of reflecting. Some of that reflection is about the…
It’s been four years since the world stopped and mass isolations began to take place in many nations and communities. Indeed, my own COVID isolation…
Time is a funny thing. It can fly by at supersonic speeds, or be slowed to a crawl. And sometimes, it feels like both speeds…