Wreaths are a welcome part of our family’s Christmas decorations. Off the top of my head, I can count at least seven wreaths around our house, inside and out. Maybe more. I have a thing for wreaths. No doubt, I got it from Mom. Farmer Gary, however, is more than willing to take them down as we move into double digits during the twelve days of Christmas. Because, around here anyway, those wreaths make festive homes for birds. This afternoon,…
Mom collected a lot more than books. She collected friends. We moved around a lot in the 1960s and ’70s, and she stayed in touch with each group of friends and neighbors. This was pre-email, of course. Dad used to tease that Mom kept the post office solvent. One friend was Newbery-winning author Madeleine L’Engle. In a future post, I’ll share some of their correspondence. In the meantime, I read L’Engle’s most famous book (finally!) this month. Week 1: A…
Farmer Gary sets an annual goal for himself: Complete the harvest before Thanksgiving. Yesterday, he finished combining ‘beans and today he’s planting the last of the winter crops. And all without a scarecrow. I can’t help but wonder if “city folk” would even know about scarecrows were it not for The Wizard of Oz. (As an aside, it still makes me laugh to remember Harry’s high school story about sitting in a quiet classroom, taking a final exam. The silence…
Boo! The month of October requires at least one or two spooky stories, don’t you think? My focus in choosing this month’s four books was non-political. Enough, already, right? Presidential election years are always dreadful, but nothing compares to 2020. When you get to the point that you dream about one of the candidates (not the one you support) offering you a job, something’s got to give! Week 1: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris My dear friend…
When I hear people complain about how breathing is uncomfortable in the year of pandemic mask-wearing, I think back to how we put up with a bit of discomfort when there was candy to be gotten. I mean, just look at this thing! See those two tiny holes right beneath this hideous cat’s nose? And right above the back of kitty’s tongue – that tiny slit? That’s how we breathed on Halloween. And no one complained. Growing up in the…
Are you old enough to remember the “Keep America Beautiful” slogan? It’s from back in the 1960s (and has nothing to do with current political swag). During President Johnson’s time in office, the First Lady took on a nation-wide project to clean up the look of the place. “We need urgently to restore the beauty of our land.” – Lady Bird Johnson According to the LBJ Library website, her Highway Beautification Act bill almost didn’t pass: Just before the 1965…
Have you ever felt a sense of grace while going through a really hard time? Have you found something to smile or chuckle about through your tears of grief? Mom called this “a sense of holy laughter” in a recorded interview, below. She was referencing how she and her siblings managed to laugh as they stepped cautiously through the final weeks of their father’s life in the spring of 1982. A sense of holy laughter. Grandpa loved a good laugh….
There comes a time in every mother’s life when she simply has to put her foot down. Dad recalls the first time Mom did this. It was in the mid-1960s, we were living in Pittsfield, and there was too much cussin’ going on in our house. “Mom got on my case,” he remembers. I asked Dad, “So what was it, mostly ‘hell’ and ‘damn’?” ” … bastard, too.” The response came much sooner than I would have expected. For those…
Let me just start by saying even Gary, my husband, likes this recipe. I’ve made Fish Florentine since we were newlyweds, and that was a long time ago! Here is the quick and easy recipe, which works for keto menus, using sole or orange roughy. Fish Florentine 4 fillets of sole or orange roughy (up to 1/3 pound each)2 Tbsp. olive oil1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped onion1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheeseSalt and pepper to taste10 oz. frozen spinach (defrost, then…
When I pulled out this month’s volume by Graham Greene, I nearly put it back. Weeks before this highly contentious federal election, did I really need to read The Ministry of Fear? Well, at least it was a book of fiction. The other three September books were non-fiction, and just as scary. Week 1: Disloyal by Michael Cohen When news hit that Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer was working on a memoir, I wondered how deep the confession would go….