Things I Learned About My Sister During Our Summer Vacation
I’ve written several posts about the cruise (see here, here, and here) we took this summer with my sister and her husband. I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend some concentrated time with her, something she and I have not had many chances to do during our adult lives. I left home for college about […]
On Writing and Editing and Procrastination
I talked to a friend the other day and found her in the process of making tomato sauce. “I haven’t made tomato sauce in years,” I said. “Not since someone gave me an excess of tomatoes one summer.” “Well, it was either this or edit the book I’m working on,” she said. She preferred making […]
Visit to the Strategic Air Command Museum
Late last month, my husband, another couple, and I went to the Strategic Air Command Museum in Ashland, Nebraska, outside of Omaha. The four of us stayed at Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, where my husband and I have stayed before. Lied Lodge and Conference Center is an oasis of peace in the middle of corn […]
Battle of the Sexes, circa 1963
I first became aware of gender differences when I was about six or seven. I had a brother just seventeen months younger than me (he turns 61 in just a few days), so I knew about the physical differences between boys and girls. But in terms of sexism and role-playing, it didn’t really strike me […]
The Fiasco That Began Third Grade
On Tuesday, September 3, 1963, fifty-five years ago today, I started third grade. The first days of school years are often memorable for one reason or another, and the morning of that day sticks in my mind. It was a day in which an ordinary event made a difference in my life . . . […]
Recipe: Easy Bean and Sausage Soup
Bean soup isn’t really a summer dish, but a few weeks ago I needed something easy to make on a day when my husband and I had to eat dinner at different times. He had an evening meeting and needed to eat before he went. My late afternoon meeting meant that I wouldn’t be able […]
To Russia, at Long Last
One of the prime selling points of the Baltic Sea cruise for me was the scheduled stop at St. Petersburg. I had studied Russian in high school and college. I’d lived in the Russian dorm at Middlebury College for one year and eaten countless meals at the Russian table in the dining hall. At one […]
Farming in Oregon in the 1850s
I wrote in February of this year that I didn’t know which issues in Oregon’s history in 1850-1852 might impact my current work-in-progress. I’m slowly answering my own question as I move through the first draft. The land laws are a major factor. The discovery of gold in the Rogue River is so far only […]
One Election Worker’s Perspective
For the past ten years, I have worked as an election worker in my precinct, checking in voters and handing them their ballots. But it is getting harder. We used to have at least six workers at every election, but as technology has improved, we are down to four in all but the Presidential election. […]
Our Alla Tour in Helsinki
As I mentioned recently, my sister did most of the planning for our Baltic Sea cruise. She decided to use Alla Tours for the St. Petersburg shore tour, rather than the cruise line (Celebrity). As she and I explored at the Alla Tour options described on their website, we found that they had options in […]