In these days of the coronavirus, every cough and every ache or pain makes us fearful. At least, that’s how I’m feeling these days. Spring is coming regardless of the pandemic, and I try to take solace in the warmer days, the brilliant sunshine, the greening of trees and lawns. But […]
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A Random List of Things That Are Going Well
The world is a crazy place in this era of the pandemic. “Social distancing” remains the phrase of the day, in many places accompanied by “shelter in place” or a variation thereof. Since Saturday, March 14, I have taken a few walks in our neighborhood, but otherwise I have barely […]
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COVID-19: What A Difference A Week Makes
Today is Wednesday, March 18. As of last Wednesday, March 11, my children and their cousins were all scheduled to fly to Kansas City this week for a meeting this coming weekend about family farmland. As of Thursday, March 12, we cancelled their trip. Why the change in plans? Coronavirus. […]
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“Where’s That Baby?” and Other Memories
As readers of this blog know, I was very close to my maternal grandmother, my Nannie Winnie. I always believed she thought I was pretty special as well—after all, I was her oldest grandchild. I knew she loved all my siblings, and I didn’t think I was any higher in […]
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Selling Cookies and Other Fun Fundraisers
The Kansas City Star has a column called “Snarky in the Suburbs” by Sherry Kuehl, which I enjoy. Last week, her piece was titled “Sure they’re nondescript, but the Thin Mint has a mighty allure”. She described her decades-long addiction to Girl Scout Thin Mints. That reminded me of my […]
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My Mother’s Hands
I wrote a poem several years back about my mother’s hands. Here it is: Heredity Stubby fingers, Split nails, Swollen knuckles, . . . And now age spots. My mother’s hands At the end of my wrists. How did this happen? At the time, my critique group didn’t get it. […]
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Cinderella Through the Decades
I follow This Day in History, watching for events that relate to my historical novels. Every once in a while, I learn something that finds its way into my novels. The information also provides fodder for blog posts, such as this one. Most of what I learn has nothing to […]
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Watching Soaps with My Grandmother
Today, February 12, would have been my paternal grandmother’s 108th birthday. She died in 1990 at the age of 78. I wasn’t as close to Nanny Kay as I was to my maternal grandmother, but when I was a preteen, I spent a week or so with her during summers. […]
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On Hallmark, Haircuts, and the Persuasiveness of Grandmas
I thumbed through a photo album of my son’s baby pictures, trying to think of something to write as a birthday post for him. His birthday is later this week. In the album, I found two photographs taken by a photographer at Hallmark Cards when my son was almost a […]
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The Grape Juice Incident
Long before the lemon juice incident or the orange juice incident came the grape juice incident. The grape juice incident happened in the early months of 1970, now fifty years ago. But it is indelibly etched in my memory. Some time in early 1970, probably around March, when I was […]
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