In 1971, when I was fifteen, I went on a People to People High School Student Ambassador trip through Europe. At the time, I lived in Eastern Washington State, and knew nothing about the history of People to People. Since then, however, I have learned that People to People was […]
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Which Ugliest Town in America?
I first visited Missouri in early June 1977, before my now-husband and I were married. I’ve described that visit—the trip to Fort Osage and the making of gooseberry pie. But what I didn’t say in that post was that I thought his hometown of Marshall, Missouri, was the ugliest town […]
Continue readingMemorial Day and a Tantrum To Remember
I described my son’s tantrum in my last post, so it’s only fair that in this post I describe one of his sister’s—her first tantrum, in fact. It occurred on Memorial Day, when she was just two weeks old. My husband and I took our family to see his parents […]
Continue readingMother’s Day Memento
On one of the spring vacations my family took, we were in a gift shop full of tchotchkes. Neither my husband nor I am fond of tchotchkes, and I was ready to move on. Nothing in the store looked interesting to me. But our children wanted to browse, to find […]
Continue readingEaster Vigil Mass: Katholische Kirche?
One of the Easter vacations my family took when my kids were young was a trip to San Francisco. My husband was a Naval Reserve officer, and he got us into the Marines Memorial Club near Union Square downtown. It was a great location—convenient to many city attractions and to […]
Continue readingHopping Down the Bunny Trail
As I’ve written before, we didn’t spend many holidays at home when my kids were growing up. We typically went to grandparents’ homes to celebrate. And that was true of Easter as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plus, my children’s spring break was usually the week before or after Easter. […]
Continue readingWaterfront Walks in Washington State
As I wrote recently, spring came earlier to Washington State this year than to Missouri. During my recent trip west, I spent two pleasant afternoons walking along waterfronts in Washington. The first was on a boardwalk on Liberty Bay in Poulsbo, Washington. I had a little time to kill, and […]
Continue readingIs Life a Beach or Not?
I’ve written before how much I love the ocean and how I count a year as good if I get to spend time on the beach. By that reckoning, 2014 should be shaping up to be a good one. I spent a day in late February basking in 80 degree […]
Continue readingEveryone’s a Critic
My husband and I recently returned from a week-long trip to Florida. I worked some on my writing, but mostly I drank up the sunshine and warmth. The respite from mid-western cold and snow was a much needed treat. But during the week, I did have to face several critics. […]
Continue readingTo Grandmother’s House We Go
In all the years we’ve been married, my husband and I have never spent Christmas at home. We’ve been responsible for a few Thanksgivings, but never a Christmas. This is primarily my daughter’s fault. She does not believe that I am capable of “doing” Christmas. Oh, my husband and I […]
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