I struggled to write this post - not because of the subject matter, but because I was drawing a blank. I did what I always do when a topic hasn't presented itself: I look at pictures. I take a lot of pictures. Someday I may even get a real camera instead of my phone! At... Continue Reading →
Moms are always talking about how cute their kids are, and understandably expect everyone else to appreciate the adorableness dripping from their babe's tiny tousled head. Well, I'm a mom, and it's time you heard about my tree-hugging, bug loving, granny tugging son. Nana had an extraordinary relationship with my boy. They were two peas... Continue Reading →
Every person has that one special treat. You know the one. When you eat it, it calms you, encourages you, comforts you, and feels like an embrace wrapped in happy memories. It might be something you've had only once; or, it could be something you would have on special occasions. Either way, it's a treat... Continue Reading →
He was only about three or four at the time, and since my mother enjoyed walks in the great outdoors, he was her constant companion. Mom loved to tell the story. The boy grew increasingly quiet during this walk. Older now, he noticed more and understood his surroundings better. What's wrong? Mom asked, only to discover his... Continue Reading →
Irish robins are some of the most beautiful birds ever created. They are the stuff of legend, illustrating holiday cards, children's books, and referenced countless times in literature. Unlike their American cousins, these robins are smaller, plumper, more vibrantly colored and almost Disneyesque in nature. They are exceedingly precious. Admiring the robin on the front... Continue Reading →
We weren't often in a jewelry store, especially one as fancy as this one was and, what we left with has been completely lost to time. What I do remember is what happened while my big brother was about to fill out the paperwork required. The salesman handed him a small order form in triplicate... Continue Reading →
I haven't seen bubbling colored drums, and colored candle shaped bubbling lights for Christmas trees in years, but those are the ones I remember having when I was small. Pop took them in the divorce and always decorated his tree with them. A few years ago I found them in a battered old packing box... Continue Reading →
Mom’s fruitcake was legendary or infamous depending on who you asked. It was about five and a half hefty pounds of candied fruit, currants, almonds, rum, and a little flour - substantial enough to use as a capstone, my brother and I called it "fruit brick." Mom absolutely loved making it. She’d start weeks ahead... Continue Reading →
When I was a child, my mother attempted to teach me to knit. I was terrible at it; my projects turned out more like stiff boards than supple scarves. So the idea of learning to crochet seemed like insanity to me. However, I was determined to prove to myself that my brain could still learn... Continue Reading →
My husband called from the living room telling me he'd be right back while I was in the children's bedroom sitting on the floor. I heard the footsteps trotting briskly up the steps to the front door, the screen door slammed, and the hurried walker burst into the bedroom, breathless and flushed from the crisp... Continue Reading →
I'm a look at the bright side kind of person, and can usually find the "half-full" aspect of any given situation. But even I have difficulty finding the silver linings from the swamp. You know what I mean; when life isn't just a puddle here and there, but a shoe-sucking wasteland of foul-smelling crap that... Continue Reading →
Forgotten Pieces There are times I look back at my life and think, "That's not me anymore." These are not bad habits per se, though there are some of those too, but things I wish I hadn't lost. These are forgotten pieces, crowded out by the ebbs and flows of life. Sometimes life gets so... Continue Reading →
