Loneliness and Pampering at Summer Camp
I wrote last summer about my son’s first overnight camp experience, at the YMCA’s Camp Wood in Kansas. He loved it and wanted to go again. His little sister was eager to go to camp as well. My husband and I had been less impressed with Camp Wood than our son had been, so for […]
Pool Days . . . Guilt-Free
My in-laws put a swimming pool in their back yard the summer after my first child was born. I’m not a good swimmer, but I love hanging out by pools, at least until my fair skin starts to burn. It was wonderful to have a place to go to relax on summer weekends. We could […]
On Cats and Cat Pillows
On a chair in my guest room sit two handmade pillows with cats on them. Although I have owned dogs most of my married life, I really consider myself a cat person. But my husband is not. He wants dogs, only dogs. I embroidered one of the pillows when I was in college. It was […]
Anne Morrow Lindbergh and My Middlebury College Graduation: Finding Inspiration Forty Years Later
It’s been forty years since I graduated from Middlebury College. Just about forty years to the day—I think the ceremony was on or about June 1, 1976. I am missing my fortieth reunion this coming weekend. In fact, I have yet to attend any of my Middlebury class reunions. I’ve given the college money. I’ve […]
Six Things My Father Did Right on Estate Planning
In addition to remembering your loved ones on this Memorial Day, perhaps you should consider how you want to be remembered when you are gone. I have just completed the administration of my parents’ estates after my father’s sudden death about seventeen months ago. During this emotional and time-consuming process, I often had reason to […]
Development of Mining Codes in the California Gold Rush
One of the topics I’ve had to research for my work-in-progress is the mining laws of California at the time of the Gold Rush. Essentially, there were no laws. In January 1848, when gold was discovered, California was under the control of the U.S. Army, which had taken California from Mexico in the Mexican American […]
Sirius Driving
After my father died, I purchased one of his cars. It was a 2012 Mazda 5—nothing fancy, but I had a 2009 Mazda 5, which I liked. When I was out in Washington State to manage my parents’ estates, I drove my dad’s Mazda 5 between his house on the Olympic Peninsula and my other […]
May 18, 1980, Eruption of Mt. St. Helens
For most of the 1979-1980 school year, my parents lived apart. My father had started a new job in Bellevue, Washington, and my mother remained in Richland, Washington, with my younger sister and brother who were in school there. My sister was in her sophomore year of high school, and my brother was in eighth […]
Update on My Work in Progress
I’m kicking myself, as writers often do. Actually, in every profession I’ve been in to date, there were times when I kicked myself. Typically, the problem has been that I’ve put put off doing something that I knew needed to be done. And that is where I am on my current work-in-progress, the sequel to […]
Learning Flexibility at My Daughter’s Birthday Parties
I wrote an earlier post listing many of the things I included in my daughter’s baby book. One thing I didn’t mention in that post was that I wrote descriptions of how we celebrated each of her first eight birthdays. I reread those entries recently, looking for a hook for this blog post. My major […]