Husbands, History, Trivia, and Corsets
My husband has always been a student of military and naval history. He spouts off bits of arcane knowledge – types of cannon, length of ships, dates of battles – which really don’t matter to anything or anyone (at least, they don’t matter to me). On our recent visit to the Museum of the Oregon […]
Clear Lakes and Surprises
This summer my husband and I visited two Clear Lakes – one in Iowa, and one in Oregon. Despite their same names, the lakes are quite different. But each lake delighted us with surprising features and surroundings. We stopped by the Clear Lake in Iowa on our way back to Kansas City from Minnesota in […]
Three Island Crossing on the Snake River
As I mentioned in my August 15 post last year, by mid-August the wagon trains to Oregon were following the Snake River. At the time, the Snake was called the “Lewis Fork” of the Columbia River (named after Meriwether Lewis). The Oregon Trail followed this river for 300 miles from Fort Hall through what is […]
Dressing for Funerals
I seem to be going to more funerals these days. Not only is the generation ahead of me passing away, but a few of my peers are beginning to fall as well. It used to be easy to dress for a funeral. I took out my black skirt suit – or navy blue, on occasion […]
The Good Big Sister: Family Myths From Generation to Generation
I’ve written before about family myths (see here and here). A recent family reunion brought more some of our myths to mind. Growing up, I was the Good Big Sister – at least that’s how my parents perceived me. My siblings probably always disagreed. I was the oldest child. One brother was just 17 months younger […]
A Modern Day Trek to Oregon City: Two Museums and the Willamette Locks
Once Oregon City was a thriving town at the end of the Oregon Trail, the largest settlement in the Pacific Northwest. It was the first city in the U.S. west of the Rockies to be incorporated. Now it is overshadowed by Portland, which it once eclipsed in size and importance. On a recent trip to […]
Favorite (and Forgiving) Peach Cobbler Recipe
It is peach season in Missouri. If it is peach season, it is time for peach cobbler, one of my favorite desserts. We like to buy our peaches from Schreiman Orchards in Waverly, Missouri, but any fresh peaches will do. Canned peaches will do in a pinch. I don’t really believe in recipes, which is […]
Summer Rains and Memories
The past two days we have had rain in Kansas City. Monday felt almost autumn-like – cool, with a steady rain that lasted all day. Tuesday was warmer, steamier, but still grey and dreary. I sat writing in my journal on Tuesday, the room dark, no sunshine streaming in my face as it does most […]
Lake Superior, Grand Portage, and the Fur Trade
I don’t know that I will get to the ocean this year, but my husband and I recently returned from a vacation on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Lake Superior is so big it almost qualifies as an ocean. (My husband commented that it smelled better that the ocean. Frankly, I like […]
A Pox on Pests, Particularly Up Close and Personal
This has been another bad year for bugs in the Hupp household – for them, and for us. We replaced the furnace and hot water heater in our basement recently, and added more insulation in the attic. Basement and attic have been the favored dwelling places of the uninvited critters that move in with us each […]