I’ve written before about my planning abilities. They are being severely taxed this week, as we gather the family for my father-in-law’s funeral. Throughout the week, we are coordinating the arrival at the Kansas City airport of my two adult children, and my husband’s sister and her husband, cousin, niece […]
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Death and Taxes
As the saying goes, nothing is certain but death and taxes. My father-in-law died this past weekend, and I am with my mother-in-law. Please re-read my June 11 story about my father-in-law and the fireflies to see what a fine man we lost. But I will have to get back […]
Continue readingTwo Degrees of Separation from the Oregon Trail, and an Old Murder
I’ve just begun to realize what a gift my father gave me in having our old family movies saved to DVDs. Each time I watch them, I remember something new – or something old – in our family history. You’ve seen a few of my family stories in earlier posts […]
Continue readingMemories of Desert and Lakes . . . and Our Rainy Respite
As a desert-born girl, I hate the rain. I don’t like it dripping on me. And I hate the Midwestern humidity – I’ve never adapted to it in 33 years of living in Missouri. This hot, dry summer of Midwestern drought has brought back many memories of the hot, dry […]
Continue readingExercise Your Right To Vote
Before my maternal grandfather, a taciturn businessman from Oregon, married my grandmother, he allegedly told her, “I don’t care if you’re Catholic, but you’d better vote Republican.” I don’t know if the story is true, and I don’t know how my grandmother voted. After all, she gave my mother the […]
Continue readingFamily Pictures: Capturing History As the Mind Cannot
Both my dad and my mother’s father took lots of pictures over the years. As kids, my siblings and I were always smiling at the camera for my father or grandfather, and often both of them at the same time until my grandfather died. There were four standard poses for […]
Continue readingThe Pitfalls of Planning
I am a really good planner and organizer. I don’t say this boastfully, but as a matter of fact. I keep a detailed to-do list, complete with due dates and timeframes. I schedule work time on my calendar, with specific things to finish in each block of time. I relish […]
Continue readingThe Magic of the Sea
My husband and I were just in Southern California and spent most of our time near the ocean – driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, walking on beaches and on cliffs above the sea, looking at boats in the harbors, and kayaking in Newport Bay. (But no sunbathing; not active […]
Continue readingCady Killers
Those of you who have read this blog for awhile know that I hate spiders. I have a new enemy now – cady killers, more formally known as “cicada killing wasps.” My husband thought he found evidence of termites in our backyard a couple of weeks ago – holes under […]
Continue readingAnother Pie Story
Readers liked my gooseberry pie post, so here’s another tale about a summer pie – this time a banana cream pie I made myself. You’ll see I had issues with it, just like with the gooseberry pie my future mother-in-law and I made together. In 1969, Home Economics was a […]
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