Now that I’m a grandmother, I find myself thinking of my mother more frequently. Though I know comparisons are irrelevant, I reminisce about what my mother did as a grandmother when my kids were babies. She lived about as far away from us then as I live from my granddaughter […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Philosophy
Reviewing Old Photographs: More Treasures, Not Much Trash
Before we moved into our current home in 2019, I did a lot of cleaning and sorting, which revealed many treasures and trash. But there were many boxes I moved from one house to the next without any review. Some of those were boxes of things from my parents, and […]
Continue readingLetters to My Grandchild: A Writing Exercise in Intimidation
Every once in a while I come across a book that intimidates me. Sometimes, it’s too long. Sometimes, it’s too literary or slow for my tastes, and I don’t want to commit. Sometimes, it’s just not appealing. I don’t like to stop books in the middle, but sometimes I do, […]
Continue readingCovid . . . The Rest of the Story (I Hope)
I wrote last week about getting Covid after four years of apparently avoiding it. Unfortunately, Covid is the gift that keeps on giving. My husband and I first tested positive on January 10. I’d had a scratchy throat for a day or two, and he had been coughing a bit, […]
Continue readingCovid, At Last . . . And Other Woes
In my January 3 post, I mentioned the possibility that life would throw more roadblocks in the way than I foresaw. Well, I didn’t have to wait long. My husband and I tested positive for Covid on January 10. Neither of us has been terribly sick, and I went on […]
Continue readingMonet and His Modern Legacy—Special Exhibition at the Nelson Atkins Museum
Shortly before Christmas, a friend and I met at the Nelson Atkins Museum for lunch in Rozelle Court and to tour a new exhibition called “Monet and His Modern Legacy.” The Nelson Atkins Museum describes this as an exhibition “exploring Claude Monet’s transformative impact on a later generation of American […]
Continue readingHome Alone for Christmas
My husband and I spent Christmas by ourselves this year. Most of our 46 Christmases together have been whirlwinds of activity, usually with travel to one set of our parents or the other. In more recent years, one or both of our adult children have usually come to visit. But […]
Continue readingBuying Christmas Gifts for My Granddaughter
I’ve always been amazed by this photograph of the gifts I received on my first Christmas. Granted, we spent that holiday with my maternal grandparents, and I was their first grandchild. They doted on me. I think my grandmother bought everything in sight for me that year. But really? An […]
Continue readingReflecting on Anniversaries and the Days In Between
Our 46th wedding anniversary was last weekend. Number forty-six doesn’t merit much recognition, though I gave my husband a couple of Hallmark cards. We ate Thanksgiving leftovers, so I didn’t have to cook. It snowed the night before, but the weather warmed enough that no shoveling was necessary. Still, we […]
Continue readingHappy Thanksgiving from President Ulysses S. Grant, 1872
My current work-in-progress begins in 1872, and I recently researched what was said about Thanksgiving that year. Here is the Thanksgiving Day proclamation by President Ulysses S. Grant that year: October 11, 1872 By the President of the United States of America A ProclamationWhereas the revolution of another year has […]
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