Memories of Vicks
One scent that brings my childhood to mind is that of Vicks VapoRub. When I was of toddler and preschool age, my mother would bring out the Vicks every time my brother or I had a cold. I used to try to hide my symptoms so she wouldn’t treat me with Vicks. My brother had […]
Snow Day . . . Not for the Birds
Kansas City got hit with a snowstorm last Friday and Saturday. Friday morning I had a meeting at the far end of the metropolitan area from where I live. I was driving other people, so skipping the meeting was not an option. It rained all morning, though the snow held off until after I got […]
My New Devices: Solutions in Search of Problems
My husband is of the belief that I like gadgets. Some gadgets I do like. Some have changed my life—for example, my first Nook Color ereader and its later replacements. Before that, my Palm Pilot converted me to electronic calendars. And I love my current 13-inch HP Spectre touchscreen laptop, which is small enough to […]
Deadline: Epiphany, The Twelfth Day of Christmas
In my family growing up, the tradition was to take down the Christmas tree before New Year’s Day. My mother said it was bad luck to keep the tree up any longer. I think her real reason was that she was allergic to evergreens and wanted the scent out of the house. Whatever my mother’s […]
My Performance Review for 2018 and Writing Goals for 2019
In December 2017, a writer friend of mine asked me what my 2018 goals were. This is what I told her: 1. Publish my third historical novel, Forever Mine (a first quarter goal) 2. Draft a fourth historical novel (the first draft to be written and reviewed with my critique group by the end of […]
You Know Your Children Are Grown When . . . [Part VI]
Once again, during the holidays I noticed that my children are now adults, no longer requiring much (though still some) parenting. This year, I realized my children are grown when 1. I sent one of them on a midnight run to pick up the other one at the airport because I didn’t want to stay […]
Mary Poppins Returns!
I mentioned in a post a few years back that I saw the Mary Poppins movie in 1965, months after it came out, when it finally arrived in my hometown of Richland, Washington. I was in the fourth grade that year, and I went to the movie in the spring of 1965, around the time […]
Favorite Posts from Christmases Past
Today is Christmas Eve, and experience tells me that not many people will read my blog this week. So rather than write a new post for today, here are some links to my favorite (and, based on reader input, your favorite) Christmas-themed posts from earlier years: True Christmas Story: A Visit from St. Nicholas My […]
First Christmas Away from Home; First Christmas at Home
Christmas 1978 was the first Christmas I spent away from my parents’ home. My husband and I had been married just over a year, and it was my in-laws’ “turn” to have us. There’s an old Hallmark Cards television commercial about a young woman experiencing her first Christmas away from her parents. It first aired […]
My Husband’s Second Christmas, and a Reflection on Memory
One of the “treasures” I found last year when I was cleaning out a cupboard was this picture of my husband as a toddler. The photograph was taken at Christmas 1950, when he was about fourteen months old. At that time, he was the only grandchild on both sides of his family, so I imagine […]