Totally Wireless — Verizon Home Internet
I’ve joined the 21st century. Our house is totally cable-free. My husband never wanted to subscribe to cable television, so, to our children’s consternation, we never did. We had a landline phone in our old house, but abandoned that when we moved to this house. We now only have cell phones, though there is a […]
2023 Romance Genre Con at Woodneath Library
I’ve written before about the Woodneath Branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library and The Story Center located in this facility. This and the many other libraries in Kansas City are wonderful resources for our community. For the past several years, the Woodneath library has sponsored a Romance Genre Conference (known as “Rom Con”). I have […]
Insomnia at Six Months
I wrote in my last post about forgetting my laptop when I went to visit my granddaughter. Readers recommended I just play with the baby, and that’s what I did for the week I was with her. Peekaboo. Reading crinkle books and board books. Singing. Walks in the stroller. Practicing sitting. We had lots of […]
Forgetfulness and Flexibility
I went out of town last week with great plans for what I would accomplish. I would care for and play with my granddaughter, of course, but babies take naps, and surely I would have some down time. And then I got to the security line at the airport in Kansas City, and I realized […]
A Lovely Vase Used for an Unorthodox Purpose
We live on a golf course, across from the women’s tee for the 11th hole. Older gentlemen also use this tee, so I call it the “old folks’ tee.” I don’t know what the formal name is for the tee closest to the hole. There are two tees that precede the old folks’ tee on […]
From Old Photos to Aura Frame
I’ve written many times about photographs taken from my childhood or from my children’s childhood. When I was young, black and white snapshots were still the norm. My grandfather got a color camera sometime while I was still a toddler, but my dad didn’t get one of those snazzy new (and expensive) devices until I […]
A Story I Want to Tell My Granddaughter: Boom-Boom Bunny (or Birdie)
When I was first born, my parents brought me home to a tiny pre-fabricated house on Roberts Street in Richland, Washington. It had two bedrooms, but apparently my room was very small. I don’t remember living in that house, and I’ve never seen any pictures of my bedroom there, so I can’t say whether that […]
Portland, Oregon, Fires in 1872 and 1873: Plot Points for My Next Novel
Some of my novels have followed historical events quite closely, and others are almost entirely fiction. For example, Lead Me Home follows the route of an actual wagon train quite closely, Now I’m Found features a section on the California Constitutional Convention, and Safe Thus Far follows an actual Oregon militia unit’s expedition. I have […]
Northwest Arkansas: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and Other Attractions
My husband and I drove to Northwest Arkansas last weekend, just to get away from home for a few days. Our primary objective was to re-visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. We’d been there in May 2012, but hadn’t spent a lot of time at the museum, which had just opened in November […]
Reflections on the 2023 Historical Novel Society Conference
I attended the Historical Novel Society North America conference last week. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend in person in San Antonio. But I listened to many of the virtual presentations, and I downloaded materials from others. I have 90 days to watch the presentations I couldn’t watch live, and I vow I will […]