Memories of Mother
A few weeks ago, my family started hospice care for my mother. She had been hospitalized, and when she returned to her assisted living facility, she had great difficulty eating and swallowing—a typical progression of Alzheimer’s Disease. She passed away on Friday, July 4, 2014. Needless to say, these recent weeks have been a time […]
Oh, Say, Can You See . . . ?
Last year on the Fourth of July, my son was traveling in the Netherlands. He walked past the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. Overcome with patriotism, he took this picture of the American flag waving proudly above the outpost of U.S. diplomacy. He wanted another picture, one with the Stars and Stripes unfurled to greater […]
Harrison, Idaho, and Summer Parades
I’ve written before about the idyllic summers I spent during my teenage years on Coeur d’Alene Lake in Idaho. Some of my memories are of boating to Harrison, Idaho, a small town across the lake from where my parents’ cabin was. Harrison had the most accessible Catholic church on the lake. We could drive to […]
Life Changes in California, June 1848
By the beginning of June 1848 there were around 2,000 miners in the Sierra Nevada foothills above Sutter’s Mill. Most of these men had been in California when gold had been found, as the news was just reaching the far edges of the territory. San Francisco practically emptied in the weeks after Sam Brannan ran […]
Politics: Some Things Never Change
I deliberately keep this blog away from politics. I’m told that writing about a hot-button issue is a sure way to increase blog traffic, but I’m not sure those are the readers I want to reach. I am bemused, however, as I do historical research, how little things have changed over the years. We think […]
The Tao of Writing, of Geography, and of Clutter
While browsing in my local library recently, I saw the book, The Tao of Writing, by Ralph L. Wahlstrom. I don’t know much about Taoist principles or philosophy, but I thumbed through the pages, and it looked interesting. Anything that might immerse me more deeply in the writing life I am trying to craft would […]
Proof of When I Couldn’t Write
I’ve mentioned before that I can’t remember not knowing how to read. I learned to read quite young, and I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t name each letter of the alphabet on the page. And as far back as I can remember, I knew the letters were put together to form words, though […]
The Summer I Knew Nothing—Studying for the Bar Exam
Thirty-five years ago, in the summer of 1979, my husband and I moved to Kansas City to study for the bar exam. I’ve written before about our trip from California to Missouri, but I’ve tried to block the bar exam and the preparation for taking it from my memory. Still, that summer was a rite […]
To Wear Red or Not To Wear Red, That Is the Question
Our pastor asked us all to wear red for Pentecost, which was Sunday, June 8, this year. The Feast of Pentecost, as we were taught as children, is when we celebrate the birthday of the Christian church, when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. The priest wears red vestments on Pentecost, so our pastor’s […]
Jim the Wonder Dog
I wrote last time about Marshall, Missouri. Marshall does have one claim to fame—it was the home of Jim the Wonder Dog. Owned by Sam Van Arsdale of Marshall, Jim was a Llewellin setter (an English setter) that lived from 1925 to 1937. Jim could allegedly understand human speech and even human thoughts. When asked […]