Pausing The Press to Give Thanks

Undeniably there are some things we absolutely wish were different here at The Garlick Press...however, we are truly grateful for bounteous blessings.

Gathering my girls together, donning matching aprons and cooking up a feast! It is so satisfying to see my grown up daughters excited about cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Mama Cass and Lawyer Girl are both excellent chefs...and Olivia, you should see her stir! 

Of course there is admiration for the toddling toddler...watching Olivia as she gains independence, wobbling for balance and strutting around the house feeling so BIG! And she is learning new words daily.

But my favorite word happens to be when she reaches out those chubby pink arms, looks at me with her gorgeous innocent eyes and calls me "Nana!" Making my heart skip a beat or two, I am so so grateful to be her Nana!

Lawyer Girl sneaks a moment with Nephew Baby, the youngest addition at The Garlick Press. Henry is 100% boy, intelligent and generally happy. He moves across the floor with something we call "The Wounded Soldier Crawl." Henry and Nana are buds too!

It's times like these that I"m grateful for the chaos that ensues when we congregate together. Four dogs, six adults (now that The Teenager is taller than me I guess he is adult-ish), and two babies. 

I will always be especially thankful for The Teenager; I don't know how I would have survived the last three years without his daily presence in my home and in my heart! Plus...I really LOVE his freckles. Henry, if you are lucky you'll get freckles like your Uncle Chet. The Teenager is the best uncle...all the babies love him!

As the oldest of my offspring, I admire and revere the wife and momma that Cass has become. Being one of her children has got to be so much fun as she makes each day an adventure! Momma Cass is deep in baby laundry, diapers, baby food, and keeping up with crawling and toddling little people.

Yet she still finds time to read; not just picture books, nearly one hundred novels a year. I have seen her reading Harry Potter to wide-eyed Henry or Little Women to inquisitive Olivia.

Brilliant and driven, Lawyer Girl is accomplishing something I never even dared dream about. Not only envisaging her future as a lawyer, Dione is accomplishing her goals and more. She is the only person I know who gets giddy when discussing anything related to the law! I am grateful that she is happy in her life and close enough to fly home for holidays!

Like most of our celebrations, we take Thanksgiving serious at The Garlick Press, and go all out...right down to our pies!


Pie...so grateful for pie...but not as much as Dean is!  By the way...pie night is just around the corner!

With gratitude and respect, I love my wonderful son-in-law Bob who works so hard at providing a beautiful life for the grand babies. He adores Cassandra, especially when she says something funny. He is the first to laugh out loud, admiring her sense of humor. And you should see how Olivia and Henry adore their Daddy.

 Learning how to use utensils...both hands at the same time!

 Henry's first Thanksgiving was fabulous. I don't think either baby said a word the entire time we were eating dinner. And that's something, with two babies at the table!


Dear hubby Dean...who makes my whole life complete. We've been through so much together. I remember concerned friends and family wondered if our marriage would survive losing a child, because so many do not. I'm grateful not only that we survived but that we are living and loving each other with every breath we take.

As we sit down to share this Thanksgiving table with family members, I also have to express gratitude for double ovens, electricity, and fresh turkeys from the store; thanking my lucky stars that I am not a pilgrim plucking feathers for my holiday bird!

Oh yes...and chocolate cornucopias...yum! Doesn't it look like Izzy is telling Dean a secret..."Say Dad, could you please pass the cornucopia!"

 Patient, lovable Izzy...I'm even grateful for the pooch...she makes the days delightful!

 These three appear to be thankful for a Thanksgiving nap.

Oh yes...and Izzy is most thankful for leftovers!

Hope your Ho Ho Turkey Day was wonderful too!

Additional thanks... As I posted this one, I noticed it was my 200th post! I am thankful for those who read The Garlick Press and also those of you who leave comments. I love them all...and each one inspires me to keep writing and photographing life.

Waking Up

Waking up to the first snowfall of the season is always exhilarating. When we crawled from our snug little beds on Saturday, 9 inches of snow covered the world outside.

Almost a foot of snow this early can often cause considerable damage. Many of the autumn leaves are still gripping the branches acting as a landing pad for the falling snow. Consequently we lost a few branches.

The chickens were as surprised as we were when waking up this morning.

Always anxious to leave the coop for a daily recess, I wondered what the girls would do when first stepping in the cold white stuff. They seem hesitant...

and then turn their tail feathers scurrying back into the coop. What a bunch of chickens!

Hopefully the bees survived this first storm and are all tucked in for cold weather. Drone bees serve no purpose in the winter and only consume precious food. So they have been voted off the island and kicked out of the hive. The remaining bees will huddle tightly around the leftover honey comb vibrating their tiny wings together. The bees will keep the hive at a balmy temperature of 94 degrees all winter.

As the sun begins to fill the morning sky, the air is still and silent; snow dampening the noises of daylight...

all too soon the silence will be filled with noise from snow-blowers and giggling kiddos.

Just don't hit the Nikon...boys!

Another check of the chickens...

"What's going on here?"

As the days grow shorter, the chickens will soon stop laying eggs for the winter.So far though, they haven't slacked off a bit. Preparing for Thanksgiving, I'm stock piling eggs in the fridge.

Thank you Mother Clucker for this gorgeous fresh egg!

Because we procrastinated putting the trampoline away, the boys need to clear the snow off the tramp and pack it up.

But not before Chet plays a new game...jump up and down on the trampoline...

letting snow and ice fly everywhere.

I do believe the teenager is enjoying himself.


Back to work!

Even the dogs LOVE the first snowfall.

Izzy's feet turn into snowballs after a morning of playing in the white stuff. She'll have to go in a tub to melt off all that snow.

Winter has made an early arrival to our valley. The next time we see the lawn will most likely be in April!

Welcome winter...we can't wait to play in you!

PS...Do you think The Red One sent the snow for my birthday?

Not Going Home

Go big or Go Home...a mantra The Red One not only claimed on a regular basis, but something she lived completely every day of her fifteen short but remarkable years among us. From her passion for skiing to her love for girlfriends...Jocie always went big.


I suppose that when Dean first concocted the idea of jiggysticks and then later put his vision into place, he had no concept how far he would go with this product.  Building a website, working with a graphic artist, and filling a few orders now and then has been completely enthralling.

Over the past year we have perfected the formula, tweaking it ever so slightly until it's sublimely perfect. I claim the distinction of being a lip balm aficionado...it's in my genes, remember? I would not be satisfied until jiggystick had the smoothest and most supreme attribute of any hand-crafted lip balm on the market.

We've had a blast soliciting visitors who dropped by to help with production; even Kelly, who is an actual chemist by occupation.

The labels have gone through several redesigns and reiterations as well. 

Designing new flavors has undoubtedly been the most fun. 

Knowing that we had a work in progress, we looked forward to each new innovation as a progression to perfection.  One of the most satisfying aspects to emerge with the jiggystick vision has been to memorialize children that have passed away much too soon. To date, we have been honored to be involved with Maddie Mango and Huckleberry Hike. 

Which brings jiggystick to the point of making the ultimate decision...go big or go home? 

Officially...jiggystick will be going BIG!

The jiggystick site has been completely redesigned thanks to amazing and talented professionals. Pop on over and take a peak. I think you will love it too!

Here is an excerpt from the section called "Our Purpose"...the vision behind the jiggystick product.

In memory of...

A beautiful spring day in March 2008 tragically changed our family forever.  Our adorable 15 year old daughter Jocie heartbreakingly passed away in a skiing accident in Northern Utah.  Only those that have experienced the dark mourning that comes with losing a child can understand the helpless, senseless, haunting feeling that follows you like a dark shadow.  As her father, I had this desire...an unquenchable thirst to somehow memorialize our beloved daughter. During this initial phase of mourning, for an unknown reason I became attracted to and started keeping bees. Observing a thriving, living, active colony of bees was both therapeutic and healing. I honestly believe the bees saved me.

In addition to delicious honey, my first harvest also produced a considerable amount of pure golden beeswax which intrigued me. Jocie who was well known by her nickname” Jiggy”, constantly carried a tube of lip balm with her.  And just like that…jiggystick was created!

When you are over visiting the newly designed site...make sure you check out the recipe section too.  I'll continue to add new ones, as I LOVE cooking with honey at my house!

We are streamlining our production by purchasing several "pipette-man" calibrated to correctly and completely fill each lip balm tube. We now own a label-application machine and we even have our own official jiggystick stamp. T-shirts are in the works and will be printed soon.

This week we have been busy working in the lab to contrive a dreamy and delicious winter scent...to be revealed soon! I can hardly wait to add it to Christmas stockings and packages. 

And for those of you who wonder why?

There are several reasons really...

-because our treasured daughter "Jiggy" lived her life with absolutely no regrets; loving every element of every detail of every day. Jiggystick lip balm immortalizes her legacy.

-because every day that I pass a red-haired child and my heart shatters all over again, I have something to focus my anguish on.

-because tragedy can befall anyone...and if it does, you too can persevere by defining your own jiggystick dream.

-because sometimes the life you live isn't the life you planned on.

-because the world could use a little bit of fun in the form of a lip balm.

-and finally because we envision becoming the Kleenex of tissues...the Xerox of copiers...and the jiggystick of lip balms. Go big or go home remember?

When reaching for a lip balm we want to hear..."Do you have any jiggystick!"