I was really hoping to find out “turnabout is fair play” was coined by William Shakespeare. Alas, its earliest application may be lost to history, but Abraham Lincoln was an early user of the phrase, so we’ll keep it in play with today’s story. As you may recall, my father‘s entire life of home ownership was tortured by squirrels (see Nuts to you! from 2019). He and Mom loved to feed the birds in their many backyards, from Massachusetts to…
Mary Catherine Schmitt turned 16 on March 31, 1936. Her teacher sent her this note. A birthday greeting in verse, actually: Mary Catherine was a top student at Jasper High School here in Indiana. She was having a good month. Just a few weeks earlier, her name appeared twice in the local newspaper, showing her place in the sophomore class’s rankings. Here’s the Honor Roll announcement: Mary Catherine was the fourth born of the ten Schmitt children. Her father, Henry,…
The new year started out with a light-hearted book, but quickly turned to darker tales. Book 1: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren I have such a clear recollection of Mom bringing Pippi Longstocking home to me from the library back in the mid-1960s. I’m pretty sure I read it in a day. When the Folio Society offered this volume with such delightful illustrations, it was time for a re-read. Pippi’s energy and strength are unmatched. And that hair! The re-read?…
In addition to being a City Mouse / Country Mouse couple, Farmer Gary and I are also polar opposites when it comes to air temperature. “Is it cold in here?” I ask him from October to May. His reply is always a slight shrug and “it feels fine to me.” Well. The other day, I decided to press the issue. With my chilled foot hovering over a floor vent, I declared the air coming through was not in the least…
Yesterday morning, what may well have been a murmuration of starlings came racing through our back woods like a blinding blizzard. I just happened to be perched in my comfy chair in the sunroom, with a wide-eyed panoramic view of the squall. It was wild! Farmer Gary later explained to me the birds are rather frantic this time of year, looking for food and a bit of warmth. They flew in from the northwest and crowded in the tree branches…
You may remember the tragic story of Peter Schmitt: “The $2 Murder.” Peter’s mother, Maria Theresia Mehling Schmitt, was a relative from Gary’s father’s side of the family. (Even though Mehling was Gary’s mom’s maiden name.) I can just hear Gary’s Mehling cousins in chorus: “Prove it!” That is what all the online genealogy classes I take preach, too. Not to mention my journalism professors in college. And so, courtesy Ancestry.com: Now that we’ve got that established, let’s learn a…
As 2025 ends, the books of December are a mix of fable and fact. The first – a special treat – was read to me entirely by grandson Cam. He used a variety of excellent character voices, which never failed to delight me. He’s shares his thoughts in Book 1, below. Book 1: The BFG by Roald Dahl The BFG by Roald Dahl, in my opinion, is a great book to read. The story has Sophie, the main protagonist, and…
Judging from Mom’s poem below, I’m guessing she and Dad had just returned from a trip to The Hemingway Home in Key West, Florida, when she wrote this: Picasso’s Cat whichever life it wasdiscarded broken to the boxthe nine were not exhausted in Hemingway’s housethe cat Picasso madeemerges whole on the high chestout of Mexicohe tops it like a santothe house guides and the garden cats below pay homage ~ joan vayo ~ January 31, 1996 There are numerous stories…
He was the only local boy to fight in Italy during World War One. Leo Paul Werne was a younger brother of Gary’s grandpa George. Born on January 25, 1891, he was 25 when the call came to sign up for the draft. Leo prepared to go “over there.” As part of the American Expeditionary Forces, Private Werne was a “Doughboy.” According to a front-page article in The Ferdinand News on May 23, 1919, Leo had quite an adventure: Returns…
Farmer Gary‘s great-grandfather Anton Mehling was born on October 2, 1862. To be completely honest, my interest in Anton started with his wife. His second wife. And that incredible hat: They married on April 8, 1913. Anton had been a widower for three years; Minnie had lost her husband in 1912. Minnie’s maiden name was Philomena Pfaff (according to Gary, the first “f” is silent). She married Fred Tillman, who was born in Prussia but grew up in southern Indiana,…