A Daily Life

This weekend has had a lot of tender moments. Here’s the cook of the excellent meal we had for Thanksgiving.  Her and I went shopping on Saturday (her Dad stayed home nursing a bad back) and it was fun getting some new clothes for her.  She takes such good care of us when we come […]

Let’s see – here’s my Thanksgiving check-off.  I’ve included highlights of some recipes that I’ve used in the past (and they tasted great). Turkey – thawing (yes, use all the pepper called for in here) – CHECK Cranberry relish – done (if made ahead or frozen, leave the walnuts until right before ready to serve) […]

According to mancavesite.org, a man cave is: A dedicated area of a house, such as a basement, workshop, or garage, where a man can be alone or socialize with his friends. According to Wikipedia, this is because: a wife may have substantial authority over a whole house in terms of design and decoration, she generally has […]

In her sister’s obituary, Christine Grote wrote: Annie never walked, she never spoke, and she never worked.  She filled our lives with smiles, and radiated light and love every day of her life. Christine is a fellow blogger who recently published a memoir of life with her sister, Annie.  Annie was born severely brain damaged and lived 51 […]

I took a picture of my favorite boy toy with his new goatee.  It looks pretty nice!  Don’t you just love all those curls around his face – so elegant. Word for tomorrow – EXPIRE.  If you prefer to work ahead, see the list for the week under “A Word A Day”.

My high school was an average school with average students.  At least, that’s how I’ve usually thought of it.  Many of had successes and have gone to own businesses, work in various professions, even go to Hollywood (without success).  In general though, few of us have made national news or achieved national prominence. But you […]

In my varied readings, the question was posed – what is the most valuable thing that you own?  Not the most valuable thing that you have, but that you own. I think for me, the most valuable thing I own are my job skills.  I’d written recently about my grandfather urging the cousins to have […]

Earlier this year, the word of the day was drink and I wrote about how I like to drink water.  My sister took one look at the picture and said, “What about me?  I like to drink coffee!”  And she’s right, she does.  Her morning does not start until she has that first cup, yet […]

My daughter and I love playing board games together.  This started when she was little and we’d play Hi-Ho Cheerio and Candyland.  Hint:  if you ever play Candyland with a small child, be sure to hide the card that sends them all the way back to the beginning.  Inevitably they will get it instead of […]

I haven’t traveled abroad in years, but I have friends and co-workers who have.  One comment I often hear is how different it is in other countries, from food to personal appearance to expectations for housing and entertainment. I find that old letters are the same.  They bring to life a different time and place, […]

My favorite boy toy has always had a sense of humor (at the end of this link, I told one of his jokes).  At the time I thought it was shameful that he acted that way, but all these years later it’s pretty funny to look at this Christmas picture from when we were newly […]

C.S. Lewis once said, Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives. He was right then and he’s still right today.  One of my favorite sayings is that jobs come and go, but family is forever.  No one remembers what you did at work several months ago, several […]

There are so many stories from the Great Depression of what people did to feed their families and survive.  My family has many of them, from my paternal grandfather who supported multiple families with his paycheck to my maternal great-uncle (below, with his wife and children, my mother’s cousins). My great-uncle had a hard life.  He walked […]

Driver’s license pictures are so funny.  For years, I looked like a halfwit on my license.  I dressed up, put on some make-up, made sure to smile, but it didn’t seem to matter. My favorite boy toy looks pathetically young – can you believe he got his first driver’s license the same year as this picture from […]

At what point did my daughter become a lady?  She certainly is polished and beautiful in her prom picture, but she was still living at home and there was a bit of forced artificiality about the whole event. But when she went away to college, she was on her own and making her own decisions.  […]

We took a bunch of pictures at my great-aunt’s funeral.  This one of my Dad with his brother and sister was one of the best.  My aunt is smiling so nicely at the camera.  I’m not sure when she realized that my Dad did not have his arm lovingly draped around her, but was engaged […]

Here’s a picture that my favorite boy toy took of his girlfriend way back when she was in college.  All these years later, I still love looking at it. Word for tomorrow – COPPER.  If you prefer to work ahead, see the list for the week under “A Word A Day”.

I’m not sure when special events went from simple (and usually lovely) affairs to all out extravaganza’s.  When my daughter went to prom, it was with limousines, fancy dinners, fancy dresses (and tuxedos for the guys), special hair-do’s and it was all expensive.  I don’t know how some of these kids could afford it or if they […]

I love to browse through my pictures, especially the old ones.  There are so many fond memories there, of places I’ve been to and people I have known.  This fall I’d like to begin scanning the old photos again to have more of the old ones available to me. Here’s my maternal grandmother on her […]

I learned years ago that having a script does not work when visiting with family.  I can plan this and plan that, but all I will do is stress myself out.  Worse yet, I could end up causing hard feelings because I’m unhappy that things didn’t go the way I thought they should. My sister […]