A New Podcast Adventure
AGW and I join my friend Kate of Penelope's Loom to talk
“Would you like to talk?”
Late in the spring, my friend Kate Saunders texted me. We’d just had a meetup in person for the first time in a few years at a mutual friend’s house. Kate had taught some of our children at Mount Hope Lutheran School here in Casper until her marriage. Then she’d relocated away from Wyoming with her husband, and we’d had only a few correspondences due to distance and life happenings. Anyway, after our visit, Kate wanted to know if I’d be interested in talking—specifically with her on her podcast through her website, Penelope’s Loom.
Penelope’s Loom (PL hereafter) is a writing place for “preserving and cultivating the Christian life at home.” Kate began it with her friend Shannon, with whom she also did some podcast episodes (you can find the full list of their conversations here; just scroll down). I love PL’s grounding in Western civilization and the classics; the encouragement to women to embrace their given family and home vocations in the homemaking craft; mediations on daily faith; and its lively enthusiasm for continued and lifelong learning. You should certainly check it out.
I was attracted to the idea of talking to a woman I knew well who is behind such a great project. Anyone who knows me knows that an ask for conversation is just about always guaranteed to get an enthusiastic “Yes!!” from me. But Kate proved an especially irresistible person with which to share words and laughs. Over about five years, she and I enjoyed many lengthy and edifying discussions, involving books—lots of books; theology; classical education; our personal lives; plus fun and random things like ice cream, NERF wars, how students (re: my sons) could possibly get pencil markings on the backs of their pants, the beauties of cool Wyoming summer evenings, and many, many other topics. So it was a pleasure and a privilege to be asked to speak with her again, on a number of new and thoughtful subjects, in a way that others could listen in on, too.
Kate has shared our first conversation here. It’s a fun get-to-know-you with, well, me. Some of you are intimately familiar with my life (hi, Dad and Mom!), so the contents wouldn’t be that surprising. Others don’t, and at any rate, I find that I’m constantly learning things about people that I didn’t know before, and isn’t that just fascinating? I just learned recently that one of my Lutheran mom friends who I’ve known for years was a Dairy Princess in Minnesota and had a butter sculpture made of her face! I did not have this particular amazing experience—and let’s (ahem) face it, few others can claim the same—but if you listen to the episode, you just might find out some interesting things that will make you want to keep listening.
Kate and I have recorded several episodes with the goal of sharing one per month. Kate is not only a wife but a mother of two beautiful children, ages two and nearly three months, and she’s also doing some classical education teaching. I’m a mom of many, juggling plates as it were, and while I’d love to podcast once a week, my (and Kate’s too) immediate priorities make that unrealistic. So Kate and I will talk, and she’ll post on PL, and I will share our conversations here on Substack, too. I’ll likely also be writing about topics we discuss, because who can say everything worth saying in an hour or so? Thoughts keep coming, and some are worth fleshing out.
Many thanks to Kate for this opportunity! Talking with a friend is always a joy, and turning those talks into a podcast is extra wonderful icing on the proverbial cake. I hope you enjoy our sharing, too (again, you can find our first conversation here).