A Drink With a Friend

Tsh chats again with one of her favorite people, Sarah Mackenzie — this time about books (as always), good storytelling, podcasts and newsletters they’re currently enjoying, holiday books they’re looking forward to, her annual Christmas School, and more.

* Sarah’s businesses: Read-Aloud Revival and Waxwing Books

* Read-Aloud Revival’s 2024 Christmas School

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* How Stories Happen

* Song Exploder

* Present Over Perfect, by Shauna Niequist

* Jess Pan’s Substack, It’ll Be Fun, They Said

* Impossible Creatures, by Katherine Rundell

* Focusmate

* Little Christmas Carol

* Mr. Dickens & His Carol, by Samantha Silva

* Christmas Karol, by Faith Moore

* The Man Who Invented Christmas

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

* Join the next pilgrimage on the Rhine River

Tsh chats with her old friend Erin Loechner about unplugging as a lifestyle choice, both for us as adults and for our kids. She’s got kids a few years younger than Tsh’s, but they’re both in lock-step with their ethos of letting their kids be kids. They get into the rebellion of not giving kids smartphones, why it’s important for local friends to do this together en-masse, and how to live fully without instagram, incessant smartphone-checking, and other forms of swimming against the current.

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* Erin Loechner’s blog: Design for Mankind

* Erin’s latest book: The Opt-Out Family

* Opt-out resources

* The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

* Join the next pilgrimage on the Rhine River

Tsh chats with her new friend Regina Gravrok, who was homeschooled K-12 and then (recently-ish) got a degree in English at Hillsdale College. Her passion for education and literature led naturally into a position at Classic Learning Test — in this chat they talk about the gift of a traditional, individualized education, the beauty and power of reading great books, and how to foster an environment at home that loves to learn.

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* The Classic Learning Test — register for any test at 25% off with the code COMMONPLACE

* Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard

* Hillsdale College

* The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius

* Sagrada Familia Basilica

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

* Join the next pilgrimage on the Rhine River

art: Young Woman with a Book, by Edouard Manet (1875)

Tsh chats with her friend Chloe Langr, mom of three little ones and host of the podcast Letters to Women. They talk about homeschooling (she’s a first-generation!), finding time to read, book clubs, leaning in to our vocations, and more.

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* Chloe Langr’s newsletter & podcast

* Well-Read Mom

* Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry

* Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger

* A Hidden Life

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

* Join the next pilgrimage on the Rhine River

Tsh chats with her friend Christine Bailey who, along with her husband, runs a regenerative farm and hosts all sorts of community gatherings in their beautiful barn. They talk about farming as a family, homeschooling, hosting gatherings, beauty, and much more.

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* Christine Bailey’s book & podcast

* Christine’s farm: The Kindred Farm

* I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger

* Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

* Join the next pilgrimage on the Rhine River

Tsh chats with friends Mike and Alexandra Foley. Hosts of the podcast Drinking With the Saints, Mike is author of a book of the same name (one we love in our household!). We’re joining forces for next summer’s pilgrimage along the Rhine River, and I think you’ll love them. In this conversation we chat about cocktails, the liturgical calendar, travel, homeschooling, the traditional mass, and more.

* Drinking With the Saints: the podcast & the book

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

* Join the next pilgrimage on the Rhine River

Tsh chats with one of her dearest pals, Sarah Mackenzie, as they talk about all sorts of things: the art and business of writing, parenting older kids, reaping the long-awaited fruits of homeschooling, and more.

* Sarah’s businesses: Read-Aloud Revival and Waxwing Books

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* The Kerlan Collection

* Kate DiCamillo’s first draft of Because of Winn-Dixie

* Little Pilgrim’s Progress

* Little Christmas Carol

* The Wilderking Trilogy

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

* Join the next pilgrimage (on the Rhine River!)

He was a musician, tech employee, and a good homeschooled Baptist kid …and also got a DUI on his record. God used that moment to wake him up — and long story short, now he’s a priest. Fr. Gabe Bouck is Tsh’s new friend (he recently joined her family in Greece and Turkey), and they chat about his story, why he loves what he does, and what their time on pilgrimage this summer meant to them both. …You can’t not love Fr. Gabe.

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

* Join the next pilgrimage (on the Rhine River!)

It’s time for a new season of Drink, and Tsh has a new-old mission: to really embody the show’s title. Pour yourself a drink and get ready for conversations with friends, old and new. All are welcome.

* Tsh’s newsletter: The Commonplace

* Tsh’s books, trips, & Rule of Life

* Recommended reads

* Become a supporting subscriber

* Buy a round of drinks

In this last episode of the season, Tsh talks with Zack Kibodeaux of the band Blue Water Highway. They talk about the objective beauty of art, what it means to make a living as a working artist, and how to navigate secular art spaces as a Catholic Christian. Plus, the episode ends with a sampling of his band’s delightful work! It’s a great conversation to tie up this season — as always, more episodes will be coming this fall.

* Host: Tsh Oxenreider / X

* Guest: Zack Kibodeaux of the band Blue Water Highway

* Blue Water Highway on Patreon

* Create Your Rule of Life

* Buy a round of drinks

* Recommended reads

* CS Lewis’ An Experiment in Criticism

* Masters of the Air

* How (& Why) I’m Taking a Summer Screen Sabbatical