The Great-Grandmother I Know the Most About: Cecelia Ryan Strachan
I never knew my great-grandmother Cecelia Ryan Strachan, my maternal grandmother’s mother. In fact, Cecelia died before my mother was born, so my mother never knew this grandmother either. But I can piece together some facts about Cecelia’s life, from family stories and from Sacramento newspaper articles and histories. That’s one of the advantages of […]
The Great Spoon Bread Debate
My son came to visit recently, and while he was here, an old family debate surfaced in our kitchen and on Facebook. As I’ve mentioned before, my son likes to cook. As he was planning his trip home, he told me he would be happy to fix some meals for us—and he specifically mentioned making […]
Insomnia and Train Whistles
A few nights ago I was awake in the middle of the night, one of those nights when I could not sleep. About 1:38 am, I heard a train whistle cry mournfully through the dark. And I got to thinking about all the train whistles I’ve heard through the years. My earliest memory of a […]
Easter Eggs: Hunting and Dyeing
I don’t remember ever going on an Easter egg hunt as a child. The Easter Bunny might have hidden some candy around our living room, but I’m not even certain of that. We had pets, plus my mother would have feared an egg getting lost behind the couch. The Easter Bunny would probably have been […]
The Oregon Donation Land Claim Act and Marriage
I wrote back in October 2015 about the Oregon land laws in the 1840s, and in that post I mentioned the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act (known as the Donation Land Law), which was passed by Congress on September 27, 1850. My current work-in-progress takes place in late 1850 and 1851, and I have needed […]
Whining about Writing
Sometimes you just have to whine. Or rant. I’m doing some of both today. For the past several weeks, I’ve only been able to work on my novel about one day a week. Maybe two. I am in a weekly critique group, in which each participant (there are six of us) can submit up to […]
Random Photos: Rickover, Our First Dog
Rickover was the first dog my husband and I owned together. I’ve mentioned Rickover before (see here and here), but he has never had a post devoted solely to him. I found a couple of photos recently that made me decide to rectify my oversight. As I’ve said before, he was half Brittany Spaniel, and […]
The Oldest Formula 409 Bottle in America
I’m not sure this is something to be proud of, but I believe our family owns the oldest bottle of Formula 409 cleaner in America. (If anyone can prove me wrong, please feel free to do so.) The Internet tells me 409 has been around since 1957, which means it is certainly possible that someone […]
My Lucky Four-Leaf Clover
St. Patrick’s Day is coming up this weekend. I’ve written before about the importance of St. Patrick’s Day in my family, because of my mother’s Irish heritage. This post isn’t specifically about St. Patrick’s Day, but it is about one Irish emblem—the shamrock (“shamrock” means “little clover”). Most people know that Ireland is called the […]
Memories of Girl Scouts on National Girl Scout Day
I don’t typically write back-to-back posts about “national days” and similar occasions, although it is interesting to note that International Women’s Day (March 8) and National Girl Scout Day (March 12) are in close proximity. The purpose of the Girl Scouting is to help build girls’ courage, confidence, and character, to make them into people […]