Rocking Through the Ages
I mentioned my pint-sized rocking chair in a recent post. I received the rocker for Christmas when I was a toddler. During my preschool years, the chair sat in the living room of our home. In those years, my father and grandfather often posed me in it for pictures. The photo below of me in […]
Celebrate the Fourth Annual “Take Your Kids to a Bookstore Day” on December 7, 2013
My parents never paid money for good grades, but they did pay books. At the end of every quarter, when our report cards came out, my brother and I got to go to the local bookstore and buy a book. I typically chose the latest Bobbsey Twins or Nancy Drew book, and he got Hardy […]
My Dawning Awareness of Tragedy: President Kennedy’s Death
The first President I could name was John F. Kennedy. President Eisenhower was in office when I was born, but he was gone before I knew what a President was. Kennedy held the Presidency when I became aware of the importance of that office. I recall sitting in my pint-sized rocking chair in my bedroom […]
Division of Labor: Pumpkin Carver
I don’t know how I became the pumpkin carver in our family. My husband and son are the ones with the Boy Scout totin’ chips. And I’m pretty slow at slicing vegetables. But my role as pumpkin carver, once started, became inalienable. My husband and I moved into our first house in October 1980. I […]
Haunting Book: Defending Jacob, by William Landry
This week’s haunting book is the story of a family in turmoil. The protagonist is Andy Barber, a prosecuting attorney whose teenage son Jacob is arrested for murdering a classmate. Did Jacob kill the other boy or not? The reader is left wondering throughout the book. Andy’s instant reaction is to defend his son, and […]
The Wizard of Oz: Stories and Memories for Kids (and Writers) of Every Age
Last Friday, September 20, 2013, NBC Nightly News aired a piece narrated by Brian Williams about The Wizard of Oz. Although the reason for this news segment was the just-released 3D version of the film, Brian Williams waxed nostalgic about the world in 1939 when the original movie came out. He placed us in a time […]
Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park
My father and I took a day last week to go to Lake Crescent in the Olympic National Park in Washington State. It was the first time either of us had seen this part of the park. The lake itself is a gem, nestled between forested hills. When we arrived, the water was perfectly calm and […]
Fourth of July Creek: Laura McPhee’s Photographs at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Last month I went to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City to see the special exhibit of Laura McPhee’s photographs of the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. I don’t like a lot of modern art, but I do like photography, and the exhibit of McPhee’s work was outstanding. The photographs on exhibit are all […]
You Can Go Home Again, Sometimes
My father recently made a huge road trip through the Western United States. One of his stops was Pratt, Kansas, where he was born. He had last been in Pratt about fifteen years ago. On that visit, he tried to find the house where he was born and lived until he was six, but was […]
Another Homemade Father’s Day Gift
Last year I wrote about the banana cream pie I made for my father one Father’s Day. A couple of years after that incident, I made him a shirt. I was much better at sewing than cooking, and by the time I made this shirt, I was sewing many of my own clothes, from pants […]