Notice anything different? That’s right, words by kathleen is now feather & pine. What’s that all about? Well, I’ve been wanting to give this here site a slight makeover for a while and thought I’d begin with a fresh name.

Is the site going to change?
Nope. Still just me talking about being a mama and all that, but you can expect some more frequent content. Yay!

Why change the name then?
Well, my original goal for this site was to exercise my writing muscles and get some actual real life written content out of my head and onto the “page.” Good or bad. Whatever that may be. At the time I was doing a bit of SEO work for a small publishing house. The job required some writing for their social media pages. I found myself enjoying the experience of molding the content to my will (oh the power!) and there was just this little shy, long-dormant voice in me wishing to explore that yearning to write.

My boss suggested I get some business cards to generate freelance writing and editing work. When I chose my card design, it came to light that my personal gmail handle had too many characters to fit and thus words by kathleen was born. It juuuust fit with the three words smashed together. Shortly thereafter, I made the somewhat tentative leap into blogdom and the name stuck.

Anyway, I’ve been feeling for a while like it no longer reflected the direction this space has taken. Since I started sharing my journey as a mama, it’s become something a little more personal and specific.

Why feather & pine?
Well the simple answer is that the feather represents my daughter and the pine (cone) my son. Since my experience as their mama has inspired the content of this site, it seems only fitting to have a name reflecting that.

But whyyyy?
I’m not sure I have a totally satisfactory answer for that (that isn’t a tad cheesy and embarrassing), but here goes.

Although I have yet to be tattooed in my 34 years, I decided last year to do something bold (for me anyway–gosh I’m boring) and get some permanent artwork on my bod. More specifically, I wanted to honour my two kiddies and this hugely transformative period in my life. And I’d always wanted a tattoo. What better excuse?

It led me to really meditate on what would best represent them while also finding something I wouldn’t mind on my skin forever. I love birds and the forest and being in nature. Algonquin is my happy place. Camping with Jose is my great joy. I haven’t met a cottage I don’t want to squat in forever. You get the idea.

But yes, I love that feathers and pine cones are both part of something larger, but also their own unique entity. Beautiful in their own right. When I mentioned I wanted a feather for my daughter, my friend Katie said, “Leni is suuuch a feather!” So it’s just hard to explain, but trust me when I say they suit them.

And so when I was ruminating over what to rename the blog, feather & pine won.

To be clear, I have yet to get these tattoos. I know, I know. Not quite so bold after all. Truth be told, the artist I want has proven quite hard to book. And I might be ready to carpe diem it up, but I don’t want to pay for laser in 5 years.

And that, my friends, is my long-winded tale of the why and what of the new blog name.