Our six-year-old grandson, Dylan, occasionally calls me on his Aunt Meg’s cell phone as they are walking back to her house from his kindergarten. Those four-block walks can take up to 40 minutes, depending on how many trolls, dragons, and princesses they meet and converse with along the way. I know, because I walked with […]
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Once again I have returned from a weekend in California. This time it was grandson Dylan’s birthday, his sixth. In March, it was his little sister, Molly’s, fourth birthday that drew me to Los Angeles. On this flight, there was no delay caused by spilled peppercorn in the airplane. Everything went smoothly. Sort of. While […]
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Saint Francis is, I am sad to say, a bit selfish. Not my favorite St. Francis of Assisi, who was known for his love of animals. No, I’m referring to his namesake, my little stray cat who comes to dine on our porch every night. As some of you might recall, I named her Saint […]
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Once upon a time, I harbored dreams of seeing my name in lights on Broadway. I would play Laura in The Glass Menagerie, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun and Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. Oh alright, so Gone With The Wind was never a Broadway show – these are my dreams, […]
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February in Iowa isn’t exactly a time when we are overrun with tourists. That said, the month does have its perks, at least for some of us. The second of February is Groundhog Day. More importantly, it’s the day Bing and I chose to be married. June brides are vastly overrated, and February brides are […]
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For those of you who have asked how my stray kitty, Saint Francis, is faring, I’m happy to give you an update. For those of you who didn’t ask, I’ll give you an update anyway. Because I’m sure you meant to ask but it just slipped your minds. Saint Francis is faring very well. She […]
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When you read this, I will have been to Los Angeles and back, celebrating Christmas with our three California offspring, their spouses and children. I can’t tell you about it, though, since I’m writing this a week before I leave. Oh, bother, as Winnie the Pooh would say. It’s a bit of a muddle, he […]
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Perhaps you will remember my column two weeks ago in which I whined that I was hosting seventeen for Thanksgiving dinner. Well, I really didn’t whine – just stated the fact that it would probably be a bit difficult for me because I am culinarily challenged. As you’ve no doubt been holding your collective breath […]
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I’m writing this the night before Thanksgiving. It may be my last Hurrah for a few weeks since tomorrow I am hosting a cast of thousands for Thanksgiving dinner. I will probably need weeks to recover. Okay, maybe the number is closer to 17, but for me, that’s a cast of thousands. My culinary skills […]
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With another Halloween behind us, I will confess I never much liked the spooky celebration. Even as a child, I wasn’t crazy about it. Trailing up to the neighbors’ doors, wearing a sheet over my head and holding out a sack for treats just didn’t seem like a fun way to spend a cold (always), […]
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