I’m Back, After Lots of Changes!
This blog was on hiatus for a little longer than I expected. Followers of my blog will immediately notice one reason—my website was completely redesigned during my weeks away from posting. I’ve thought for a while now that my website needed an update. It’s looked the same since 2017—a lifetime in website design. The malware […]
Blog Going on Hiatus
Because of a personal commitment that will consume my time for the next few weeks, I am putting this blog on hiatus for a while. I’d love to post about it as it’s happening, but I won’t have time to write. So I’ll tell you all about it when I return. Here are a few […]
Remembering the People of Hallmark
I wrote five years ago about my first day of work for Hallmark Cards on September 4, 1979. That post was on the 40th anniversary of my start date (i.e., “continuity date” in Hallmark-speak). Today is the 45th anniversary of my start date. But this year I am thinking less about that first day of […]
1870s Mansions in Portland, Oregon
The fictional family in my work-in-progress lives in a large house in Portland, Oregon. They built the house and moved into it sometime around 1870. As I’m editing the novel, I realize I need more details on the location and the layout of the house and its grounds. So, I have been researching actual mansions […]
A Visit to The Rabbit HOle
Last week, I visited The Rabbit HOle, a museum in North Kansas City dedicated to children’s literature. The museum features displays based on a wide variety of children’s beloved and award-winning books, from Goodnight Moon to Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel to Crow Boy. Although I have lived in the Kansas City Northland for […]
Update: Website and Awards
I wrote a few weeks ago about problems some readers and I have experienced with this website. After receiving feedback from readers about their issues, I hired WPBeginner to figure out what was wrong with the site. They found some malware on the website and cleaned it off. They also recommended additional security safeguards, which […]
Help From a Tall, Cheerful Person
I’ve written several posts in the past about my children as adults. The last such post was in January 2022. At that point, I didn’t have much more to say on the subject. And I still don’t have much to add, though it remains a marvel and a blessing to me that my children have […]
Almost Eighteen Months Old!
In just a few days, my granddaughter will be eighteen months old. I won’t be with her, but I ask my daughter regularly about the toddler’s accomplishments. Plus, my daughter and son-in-law are good about sending us frequent pictures on our Aura frame. So I can attest, she is growing up so fast! Recently, my […]
The Ice Trade in the 19th Century
Sometimes, I link to posts from this blog in my monthly newsletter. And sometimes, I take blurbs from the newsletter and expand them into a full post. This is one of the latter. In my July 1 newsletter, I described the beginnings of refrigeration in the 1870s. Prior to the 1870s, most people could only […]
Website Woes — Seeking Reader Input
My website is now seven and a half years old, and the blog posts date back several years before that. Things on the site are starting to break. As the administrator of the site, I don’t experience the site or links to it the same way readers do. So this post is a plea for […]