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 […]
Continue readingTag Archives: winter
My Basement Office in Winter
I have discovered one drawback to having my office in the basement of our new home. Make that, “on the lower level,” in the vernacular of modern real estate. Heaven forbid that a house be saddled with such a dreary component as a basement. Particularly when it is a walkout […]
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My Christmas in California
I only spent one Christmas at my maternal grandparents’ home in Pacific Grove, California. That was in 1965 when I was nine. I seem to recall many Christmases with these grandparents in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where they lived before they moved to Pacific Grove in about 1962. But in fact, […]
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Reflections on My Snow-Shoveling Career
Last week I shoveled our driveway and walks three times in one week. Kansas City’s winter hasn’t been as bad as in some places, but it’s been worse than we’ve had in several years. As my husband said after the third storm in a week, “This is like winter used […]
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Ten Years Ago—My Life and Dreams
Every once in a while, I go back through old journal volumes to see where I was and how I’ve traveled to where I am today. Recently, I picked up a volume from ten years ago. Early 2009 was the end of the beginning of my retirement years. Throughout 2007 […]
Continue readingSnowed Out On My Birthday
Forgive me one more birthday story. After this post, I’ll move on with my year. Forty years ago, on my 19th birthday, I was in my second year at Middlebury College. It was spring break, but I stayed on campus that week. I didn’t mind remaining on the almost empty […]
Continue readingBlack Bean Soup for Homemade Soup Day
I recently learned a surprising factoid: Today, February 4, is Homemade Soup Day, even though January is National Soup Month. Those of us in Kansas City have been fortunate this year—our January was warm, and we had less need of soup than most winters. On January 28, as New England dug out […]
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 readingMy Son, My Mother, and Hallmark Cards
Several months ago I was cleaning out a drawer that should have been cleaned out long, long before. I found a file of greeting cards from the year my son was born. (I won’t say the year, but I will say he was born in mid-February, in the middle of […]
Continue readingWinter, Wind, and Tumbleweeds
Did you see the story last week about tumbleweeds taking over the town of Clovis, New Mexico? The pictures of the piles of tumbleweeds as tall as tractors brought back childhood memories for me. The house my parents built in Richland, Washington, in 1962 was at the end of a […]
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