Month: September 1996

As a child, my sisters, a girl cousin and I organized ourselves into a club with the motto, “Quzzle, quzzle, quack, quack.” After 35 years, who remembers the reason for that motto? The important thing was that with the club, we declared ourselves not only sisters and cousins, but also best friends. As cousins, we…

The speaker at the spring retreat mentioned planning an old fashioned Victorian tea party. Images of fine linens, delicate china and tea food: Cucumber sandwiches, crumpets, scones and tea cakes grew into a determination to have our own tea. No one knew how to do it all. But we had a book that described teas…

Our youngest children are riding the miniature train at the county fair several years ago, when my oldest ran up to me. “Where’s Mert?” he panted frantically. I blinked. “I don’t know. I think he went in the exhibit building.” “I need him to toss the ring around the duck’s neck so I can get…

Working at the News-Times has ruined my sense of time. My first day I was handed a stack of daily horoscopes, Dear Abby and syndicated editorials to enter into the computer for future use. A fog of time uncertainty began to descend. On Mondays, all the horoscopes and Abbys are dated for the next Saturday,…

“I really like it here,” my son’s friend said as they played a game of chess on the floor. “I would love to live here.” He was looking for a new place to live. I overheard his comment from the corner where I sat working at the computer. “Yeah,” I said, “that’s what his roommate…