Janice Wilson Stridick

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The Not-So-Big Beach House

April 27, 2018 by Janice Wilson Stridick

The Not-So-Big Beach House

I wrote the blog,  "It's Just a House! Do something with it!!"  when Paul and I were getting ready for the first tenant in our not-so-big beach house that had been in my family for forty years. I was freaking out, quietly, in my way. Emotionally, I was pushed to the edge with the intention of making the house perfect, having happy tenants, and ensuring that nothing went wrong. And nothing did go wrong, at least nothing to do with the beach house or the tenants. But six days before our first … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Caregiving, Alice Steer Wilson, Blog, Cape May NJ, Death of a Parent, Family Caregivers, Historic Preservation, Jersey Shore Renewal, Memoir, Mothers and Daughters, Sisters, Women's Stories

It’s a beautiful holiday house, and we’d love to see you!

December 13, 2017 by Janice Wilson Stridick

It’s a beautiful holiday house, and we’d love to see you!

Last Friday evening, Paul and I opened the doors for our first holiday house tour to benefit the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts. Click this link for the virtual Lamplighter Tour of Ocean Alice's. It's not too late for the holiday house tour Don't worry that you missed it -- we're on a second tour Wednesday, December 27th. If you're anywhere near and would enjoy the winter sparkle of festive Cape May, get your tickets now -- they will sell out! Just click this link -- and update me, please. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Alice Steer Wilson, Cape May NJ, Historic Preservation, Memoir, Peace Tagged With: #metoo, Alice Steer Wilson, Cape May, Connection, Gratitude, Historic Preservation, Janice Wilson Stridick, memoir, Mother-Daughter Way, mothers and daughters, openness, Winter Holiday

“It’s just a house! Do something with it!!”

June 25, 2017 by Janice Wilson Stridick

“It’s just a house! Do something with it!!”

  Last year, Paul and I bought the family beach house and these words from my mother's painting class keep me going. She charged her painting students with this and other pithy sayings when they were blocked. Today, the words seem prophetic. On the 15th anniversary of my mother’s death, my dear husband and I became sole owners of the Cape May house she adored. It’s a house that has served generations of our family and friends as a respite, a place of celebration, a center for art … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Historic Preservation, Alice Steer Wilson, Blog, Cape May NJ, Death of a Parent, Family Caregivers, Hoarding or Curating, Jersey Shore Renewal, Memoir, Mothers and Daughters, Women and Creativity, Women's Stories, Writing Tagged With: Alice Steer Wilson, Cape May, Emotional strength, Gratitude, Historic Preservation, memoir

First Father’s Day Without My Father

June 18, 2017 by Janice Wilson Stridick

First Father’s Day Without My Father

My father got things done. He applauded us when we got things done. So last week, when I arrived in Cape May, I vowed to restore two wicker chairs my father had cared for years ago. I thought it would be quick work, as the paint was peeling. I’d just shake them off, maybe use a wire brush, then coat them with the oil-based Cover Stain primer our friend Marc Shenfield (a certified wicker nut) recommended. Marc likes to get things done, and he had lovingly restored the rocker in the painting … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alice Steer Wilson, Artist, Blog, Cape May NJ, Death of a Parent, Historic Preservation, Memoir, Peace

Can You Keep a Woman’s Secret?

March 8, 2017 by Janice Wilson Stridick

Can You Keep a Woman’s Secret?

Self-Preservation in a Time of Misogyny: While International Women's Day honors the known as well as the unknown stories of those who have long kept a woman's secret, I believe we honor ourselves when we honor our mothers and grandmothers, ancestors, and women of all races, creeds, and eras. Therefore, I'm not content to confine this activity to one day, or one month: it is a daily practice of awareness. You may recall that the academic study of Women's History began in the 1970s, during a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Women and Creativity, Alice Steer Wilson, Artist, Blog, Forgiveness, Memoir, Mothers and Daughters, Women's History Month, Women's Stories

Board the Kind Ship Now

February 9, 2017 by Janice Wilson Stridick

Board the Kind Ship Now

It's time to pay attention . . . Last December, as I created exercises for the Mother-Daughter Way focus on kinship, a typo got my attention. I kept misspelling “kinship” by adding the letter "d" and creating a new word – kindship. It happened so frequently, I had to pay attention. Why? Because, at the risk of sounding woo woo, I believe certain so-called errors arise from a deeper level of consciousness. Like the word, which spawned the idea, of a Kind Ship. That's why I write every day. I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Forgiveness, Geneaology, Memoir, Mothers and Daughters, Peace, Social Justice

Open Heart, Open Hand: My Prayer for You

November 23, 2016 by Janice Wilson Stridick

Open Heart, Open Hand: My Prayer for You

Although I strive for an open heart, I've been quiet lately. Let's be open with each other. There are reasons for my silence. Yes, I lost my father recently. And yes, I am in the midst of running Mother-Daughter Way ONE, which is fabulous and bountiful and exciting. But my quietness puzzles me: I love to write. I write daily, so why have I been reluctant to post? Perhaps I've muted myself because the airwaves were overcrowded with incredibly loud and angry, even hateful speech. The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Death of a Parent, Food, Memoir, Writing Tagged With: Alice Steer Wilson, Connection, Gratitude, Janice Wilson Stridick, Mother-Daughter Way, openness, self-limiting beliefs

Defying My Mother, Again

July 22, 2016 by Janice Wilson Stridick

Defying My Mother, Again

                    Today marks fifteen years since my mother's death. As I awoke this morning, I remembered her last words to me. And I will defy them. I'll tell you about that soon, but first I need to set up the event of losing my mother so you understand how tangled this mother-daughter way can become. For the last two decades of her life, I considered my mother to be my best friend. She was a passionate artist. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Alice Steer Wilson, Artist, Cape May NJ, Historic Preservation, Memoir, Mothers and Daughters, Women's Stories

Nurture Your Blessed Autonomy

February 25, 2016 by Janice Wilson Stridick

Nurture Your Blessed Autonomy

For the 11th week of the Mother-Daughter Way, we are nurturing a blessed autonomy. In this photograph, my grandmother reads her memoir and shares her vision of more than 90 years on this planet. She was sure that the world outside of her small apartment would receive her words, and that they would live on. It was a lesson she showed me, and I love passing it on to you this week. She knew she was the author of her life story. To nurture your blessed autonomy, this week's body/mind focus is a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Memoir, Women and Creativity, Women's Wisdom Tagged With: Autonomy, Margery Wells Steer, Mother-Daughter Way

Thrilled to unveil Alice’s Cape May, the part represents the whole . . . .

April 22, 2015 by Janice Wilson Stridick

Thrilled to unveil Alice’s Cape May, the part represents the whole . . . .

Fifteen years ago, Saturday, my mother began painting a large oil portrait of me. That may sound unremarkable, since she was a painter and I am her daughter, but it was highly charged for two reasons: I was busy, healthy, and I hate to sit for portraits. She was weak, breathless, dying of breast cancer, and she had never been satisfied with any of the previous portraits she’d attempted of me. In her home, and my sibling’s homes, there were plenty of portraits of the rest of the family. Her … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alice Steer Wilson, Artist, Breast Cancer Survival, Cape May NJ, Family Caregivers, Hoarding or Curating, Memoir, Mothers and Daughters, Poetry, Women and Creativity, Women's Stories, Women's Studies, Women's Wisdom

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Recent Posts

  • Love and Flowers to Caregivers, Care Partners
  • The Not-So-Big Beach House
  • It’s a beautiful holiday house, and we’d love to see you!
  • “It’s just a house! Do something with it!!”
  • First Father’s Day Without My Father

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