Now that my daughter is in her mid-thirties, I thought we had passed all the mother/daughter milestones. But apparently not. She is getting married later this summer, and she came to visit recently with the intention of taking me to help her buy a wedding dress. We spent an afternoon […]
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The Family That Waterskis Together . . .
I’ve written before about the idyllic summers I spent as a teenager on Coeur d’Alene Lake. And I’ve written about waterskiing. I recently found some old pictures of those days—pictures of my father, mother, brother, and me all waterskiing. As I looked at these pictures, I remembered how each of […]
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Use of Laudanum in the Mid-19th Century
Authors continue to research aspects of their plots throughout the drafting and revising of their novels. For my current work-in-progress, I’ve had to revisit old research topics, and today’s post discusses a new line of research. (I hope no one ever researches my web search history. It is full of […]
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How I Came to Write a Novel Series
I didn’t set out to write a series of novels about the Oregon Trail and settlement of Oregon. I only intended to write one historical novel. But I have now published five books in my historical fiction series, and I’m working on the sixth, with a seventh planned. How did […]
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Happy Birthday to My Daughter, and Memories of the Last Family Graduation
My daughter doesn’t appreciate most of the posts about her on this blog, but today is her birthday, and so I am thinking about her. Her birthday is in May, and most of her graduations have been in May, so there have been many May celebrations in her honor. Today […]
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First Wednesday Sirens and Tornado Preparations
Today is a first Wednesday, which means that at 11:00am, sirens will blare. At least they will blare in the Kansas City area. Most municipalities and other jurisdictions near us test their tornado sirens monthly. I don’t know how broadly this emergency broadcasting system operates, but I think it extends […]
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The History of Married Women’s Property Rights in Oregon
Under traditional English and American property law, married women had no rights to own property—real property or personal property. Their husbands controlled their property. But the 19th century was a time of change for women’s property rights, and Oregon was at the forefront of some of these changes. As I’ve […]
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I Don’t Know How They Do It
I posted several years ago how I hated my mother telling me “I don’t know how you do it” when I described my life as a working mom. And how I vowed I would never say to my children “I don’t know how you do it.” But I am now […]
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A Not So Random Photo and Family Forensics
National Siblings Day was a few days ago on April 10. I looked for a picture of my siblings and me to post on Facebook for the occasion, and I came across this one. I’d forgotten this photo, though it is on the CD that my father had made of […]
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On Birthdays, Goals, and Priorities
My birthday was yesterday. I celebrated sedately, ordering dinner from an Italian restaurant my husband and I like and cake from a bakery I hadn’t tried before. I also voted in a municipal election and met with a banker. It was a decent day, though I doubt this becomes one […]
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