Traveling with Parkinson’s: A Trip to Omaha
My husband and I hadn’t spent a night outside Kansas City since our trip to Seattle in February. We decided we needed a getaway. But, because of his Parkinson’s Disease, there were limits on where we could go: Our favorite place within a few hours of Kansas City—Lied Lodge in Nebraska City—was booked for the […]
Ten Years After My Mother’s Death
Tomorrow, July 4, 2024, marks the tenth anniversary of my mother’s death. As I wrote at the time, it felt like she was regaining her independence from Alzheimer’s. Although it was hard to lose her, she was ready to leave us. I’ve also written before that I spent the first thirty years of my life […]
My History with THE OREGONIAN
The big city newspaper when I grew up was The Oregonian, a Portland newspaper. My parents subscribed when we lived in Corvallis, Oregon, and to the Sunday Oregonian for many years during the time we lived in Richland. When I went to Middlebury College, I was often homesick for the West. My friends and I […]
Fish Stories, and a Forgotten Photograph
I mentioned last week that I failed to gather many photographs and a few albums before I sent everything off to be digitized. This week’s post is about one of the photographs discovered after the digitization project. I know I’ve seen this snapshot before, but I did not remember it until my husband found it […]
Success on My Photo Digitization Project
I wrote recently (see here and here) about sorting my old photographs and taking them to be digitized. I have them back now, and I’m so glad I got this project done! The seven (or more) boxes of snapshots, and framed photos and memorabilia are now on one small flash drive. And there are back-ups […]
Finally, the First Draft is Finished. Back to the Beginning.
As I announced on June 1 to readers of my monthly newsletter (fill out the pop-up box on this site to subscribe), I finished the first draft of my current work-in-progress last week. On May 29, to be precise, which is exactly one year after I published When Heart Shall Fail. Of course, this is […]
Another Visit from My Granddaughter
My daughter and granddaughter visited us again over Memorial Day weekend. The baby is now almost 16 months old and about to move to the toddler room at her day care center. She can do so many things! When I last saw her in early February, she was just a year old and barely walking. […]
Use of Gold as Currency and the Coinage Act of 1873
I submitted a rough draft of a scene to my critique group last week about the transportation of gold dust from Sacramento to San Francisco in 1873. My intent was to use that gold dust as something that could be stolen. My writing partners and I got into a discussion about the weight of the […]
A Visit To the Johnson County (Kansas) Museum
Not long ago, my husband and I decided we needed a break in our routine, so we took a day to go to the Johnson County Museum in Overland Park, Kansas. My husband had wanted to see the 1950s all-electric house that is part of the museum for a long time, and we finally made […]
I Miss My Photographs
I wrote last month about organizing my photographs so I could have them digitized. Late in April, I took them to a woman whose business is to digitize photographs and other mementos. I had boxes and boxes of snapshots, formal portraits, certificates, and other memorabilia. I left everything with her. And now I miss them […]