Fort Nez Perce to The Dalles: By Water or By Land?
In 1817, the North West Company established Fort Nez Perce where the Walla Walla River met the mighty Columbia. In 1821, that fur trading company merged with Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, which then operated the fort. Fort Nez Perce remained active until 1857, when the U.S. Army built a new fort nearby named Fort […]
Silent Skies: Returning to September 11
So much has changed in the twelve years since September 11, 2001. The security lines at airports, where we shuffle forward in stocking feet carrying our plastic bags of three-ounce liquids. Newspaper stories of bombs in shoes and in underwear. Attempts to blow up Times Square, and the actual blowing up of the Boston Marathon. […]
Memories Prompted by an Amethyst Pin
My maternal grandmother gave me an amethyst pin many years ago. I don’t remember exactly when, but I wore it frequently with a purple plaid dress I had in 1985, so I probably received the pin about that time. I enjoyed wearing it with a navy or grey blazer over the plaid dress. And I […]
Writing: The Consistency of Voice
I mentioned several months ago that I had resurrected a short story I wrote in college and was editing it. I shared a draft of the revised story recently with my critique group. One of my partners commented after our meeting, “You know, Theresa, it’s amazing how much your voice at seventeen sounds like you today.” […]
Life Without Electricity
Sunday morning the electricity went out in our house. It seems to happen more and more frequently. The lines in our subdivision are underground, so usually the lights just flicker, or we get our power back after a minute or two. But Sunday morning it was out for over an hour, from about 7:30am until about 9:00am. […]
Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park
My father and I took a day last week to go to Lake Crescent in the Olympic National Park in Washington State. It was the first time either of us had seen this part of the park. The lake itself is a gem, nestled between forested hills. When we arrived, the water was perfectly calm and […]
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 […]