As I mentioned in my last post, my granddaughter just passed her first birthday. My husband and I were privileged to visit her for the occasion and to celebrate with her, her parents, and other family members. We had other reasons for making the trip, but I timed it to […]
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Letters 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, […]
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I Can Finally Cook a Pot Roast
When I was growing up, my mother regularly made pot roast because my father (a native Midwesterner) liked it. I liked the pot roast and the potatoes that were cooked with it, but I detested the carrots. I’ve written before about sitting at the dinner table for an hour after […]
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Covid . . . 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, […]
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Covid, 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 […]
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Monet 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 […]
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New Year, New Goals—Will I Do Any Better in 2024?
In 2023, I had two primary writing goals—to publish When Heart Shall Fail (preferably in the first quarter of the year) and to draft the next (and last) book in my series on the settlement of Oregon. I published When Heart Shall Fail, but not until around Memorial Day. I […]
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Home 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 […]
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Christmas Lights
I feel like a curmudgeon this year because our house is one of only two or three on our cul-de-sac that does not have Christmas lights on the front of the house. I like driving through the neighborhood and seeing all the lights, but I don’t want the effort (or […]
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Buying 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 […]
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