My mother’s birthday would have been later this week, and so I’ve been thinking a lot about her. One of the things I think about is all the books we read and discussed. Both of us loved reading all our lives, from the time we first could read until, in […]
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Happy Fortieth Birthday to My Son
My son, my first child, turns forty in a few days. It certainly does not feel like forty years ago that I gave birth to him in a bad snowstorm. I wrote about his birth in an earlier post, so I won’t repeat that here. I’ve written many posts about […]
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My Memories of Albany, Oregon
I wrote last week about using Albany, Oregon, as a setting in my current work-in-progress. Writing that post caused me to remember my own experiences in Albany dating back to my preschool years when our family lived in nearby Corvallis, Oregon. My dad was getting his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering […]
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January Is National Oatmeal Month
I was surprised to learn there is such a thing as National Oatmeal Month. But then, with eaters like my husband and children, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. My husband is a huge fan of hot cereal in the morning. He makes it from scratch—none of that instant stuff for […]
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You Know Your Children Are Grown When . . . [Part VIII]
This might be the last time I post on the topic of grown children because I don’t have a lot to add to my many earlier posts. Still, the recent holidays had me reflecting on my adult children again. I posted about my two grown children after Christmas 2018, when […]
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Did My Younger Siblings Ever See Santa?
I’ve written before about how my brother and I got to see Santa Claus when he visited our home one evening just before Christmas. I’ve also written about when my children got to see Santa at their grandparents’ home. My son took the experience in stride, but it took my […]
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A Picture I Wish I Had: My Son’s Solo
Each year, my kids were in Christmas programs at their school. The programs were held in the church of the parish that operated their Catholic school, and religious Christmas carols made up the bulk of the program. The whole school was in the program. Each class, from kindergarten through eighth […]
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A Story I’ve Mentioned Before: Dropping My Brother on the Porch
November is National Family Stories Month. So we should tell our stories to family and friends. Stories make us who we are. Or sometimes we hope stories don’t influence our lives. Here’s a story I have mentioned before, and it is one I’m glad had no lasting impact. The story […]
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Random Photos: An October Trip Back in Time
My husband and I have taken many nice autumn vacations in September and October. Some of these autumn trips have been to Colorado, the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park, San Francisco, and a Rhine River cruise. And, of course, we’ve also made trips to see family in Seattle, Washington, D.C., […]
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Fifth Grade: A Blur With One Specific Memory
I’ve written about my early school years. See here and here and here. By the time I reached fifth grade, I’d been there since the start of second grade, and I was likely to remain there through eighth grade. I knew where I stood. I’d survived the double names of […]
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