Beyond 20 Gallons of Milk

The museum we took our granddaughters to visit had a room displaying death jewelry: items made with hair of the deceased. I scanned the descriptive placards and explained each display to the girls. As we left one said, “the best part of the museum was that jewelry.” The museum visit had expanded her knowledge about…

For days the weather news predicted Snowpocalypse 2026. Thursday, the sun shone warmly as I went into town to exercise and pick up a dozen eggs. I couldn’t think of anything else I might need if snow kept us home.Friday, clouds hung around the horizon. I went to town to exercise and buy a can…

It’s amazing to see what can happen during financial duress. With my family I want to help, but I won’t because 54 years ago we began marriage financially strapped.How strapped? Well, let’s just say when we bought our first house, we borrowed money for the down payment before we signed the loan for the mortgage.…

Fruits, veggies and chicken. I bought all of that to avoid the holiday excess. Then the carbs came calling.First the overly ripe bananas had me pulling out the cookbook. “It’s time to make banana bread for the holidays. I will make small loaves and freeze them for holiday gifts.” Of course, as the cook, I…

The odds and ends at the estate sale included a high school memory album, one student’s personal information, collection of signatures and final good-byes. On the cusp of adulthood, the high school senior (HSS) had one plan for her life after graduation: Her upcoming wedding. References to her marriage appear frequently in the album. For…

Every year we find a space for a short family reunion with our six children, spouses, 18 grandchildren and as many of the great-grands who are spread across five states. Doing so ensures everyone an opportunity to catch-up. This year Hubby found a beautiful mansion out in the country. It had three stories, plus a…

Books imprint me like a newly hatched duckling when it sees its mother.               For instance, I read the biography of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell. In 1849, she became the first woman in America to earn a medical degree. Inspired to be like her, I followed her example. To keep herself awake and studying, during medical school…

Farm children in the years before World War One delighted to find an orange in their Christmas stocking. The brilliant globes of color in the midst of grey winter made the day special according to biographers Laura Ingalls Wilder and Ralph Moody.  Wilder recalled the Christmas blizzard when Alonzo trudged through a blizzard carrying holiday…

Crawling around on their knees, pushing toy cars and muttering car sounds, our boys wore holes in the knees of their pants with their constant motion.I became adept at sewing knee patches and even patches on top of patches. The boys did not mind the patches, but I sought and found sturdier pants with reinforced…

Every November in grade school music we blasted out the traditional Thanksgiving song. “Over the river and through the woods, To grandmother’s house we go. The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh, through the white and drifted snow!” We lived those words this Thanksgiving driving to see the grandkids. Hubby knows the way…

Conversation around the kitchen table had turned to pets. We discussed how many cats or dogs each owned. Then, hold the phone, Christy Winget said she had a bearded dragon named Drago? “I got him when my family member just had their second child. I always played with him when I visited. If I had…

Thanksgiving reminds us to consider our blessings past and present. This year I look back and recall a time, early in our marriage, when something bad happened. We dealt with the consequences and settled back into our routines at school, church and home.While my routines continued, depression crept over me. My usual enthusiasm and energy…

Somedays, I promise you, I need stretching exercises for my attitude as much as for my body. I understood perfectly when my cousin said, “Most mornings I grab the wall for a few steps after a  night of sleep,” I am there with her.  It didn’t used to be that way. At 23 I scampered…

Grandma came fussing out the door when she saw her grandsons fighting in the yard. “Make them stop,” she turned to my father helplessly. He looked at the elementary aged cousins tousling in the yard, remembered being a kid with his twin brother and said, “They’re all right. Boys will be boys.”The fight finished and…

If I kept every bit of fabric I received or found at yard sales, the sewing room would overflow, I don’t. I pass most along to sewing ministries or other seamstresses. If we kept all the Bibles and Christian literature we collected, our house would be packed to the brim. We don’t. Every few months…