Hi! My name is Kerstin and I’ve been blogging on and off since 2005! What began as a weight loss blog turned into general musings about life, and eventually led me to becoming an online business educator.

This blog is called Autumn Diaries because autumn is my favorite time of year, and at 63 also the current season of my life. A life that often traversed the road less travelled: I never had children, got married at 42, moved 35 times, lived in four countries and traveled to 37, had 25 jobs, and started my own business at 52. My late-diagnosed ADHD might have something to do with this! Originally from Germany, I now call the beautiful Pacific Northwest home. I love journaling, curating our cozy home, hanging out with my husband and our two fur babies, walking or bicyling along the sea, visiting my beloved Vancouver, and hopping over to the San Juan Islands in our plane Ginger.

I decided to start blogging again because it is 2026 and I want to chronicle these unsettling times through the lens of an independent woman, who was raised by a resilient, stubborn, and resourceful single mother of three. We were a low-income family but growing up in Germany in the 70s and 80s, meant we had a social safety net, funded by taxes: affordable housing and healthcare, excellent public schools, free after-school childcare, and free access to higher education. It was not a perfect system and things were definitely not always easy, but having that kind of a safety net and a mother who “refused to feel poor,” made all the difference to how I approached life as a woman.

I love life, humans, and the beauty of this world. I don’t love bigotry, xenophobia, transphobia, racism, and misogyny. Life is too precious to hate, but I can also see how easy it is to be sucked into the divisive lure of internet silos and echo chambers. I do believe that patriarchy is on its last breath. Not surprisingly, it’s not going silently. But those of us who want a better world, where everyone has a realistic chance at a free, dignified, and safe life, are no longer silent, either.