memories

Feb 14, 20215 min read

One Year of Love Letters

“I think these are love letters,” my daughter said as she sat cross-legged on the floor of a storage unit that held the last of my...

Apr 20, 20202 min read

Here for the Imperfect Days

My mother died 12 years ago today. I’ve been thinking about her more than usual, which means instead of five times a day, it’s ten times....

Dec 30, 20185 min read

Baking Like 1973

I’m a little edgy the week between Christmas and the New Year, trying hard to “take time off” but also feeling a looming sense that I...

Dec 7, 20165 min read

This Time, Last Year

On Friday, I’m leaving town. It’s not the best time for me to be gone because we run a retail shop and it’s almost Christmas. And yet,...

Oct 12, 20164 min read

The Most Important Room: Before

The kitchen demolition at Rosedale started two weeks ago but I wasn’t there to watch since the kitchen really isn’t my territory anymore....

Sep 25, 20164 min read

The Purge (Part One): The Clothes Closet

When I was five, we took our annual Colorado vacation in the hot month of July, and my mother left my packed suitcase with all my...

Mar 12, 20161 min read

Good Boy, Pierre

I absolutely hate goodbyes. Dogs are dogs, I know. They aren’t people and so there isn’t really a need to write a long, sad,...

Jan 8, 20163 min read

Taking the Royal into 2016

I remember the sound of typewriter keys on Saturday mornings. Dad would finish his Sunday school lesson by typing his notes on the old...

Jun 20, 20134 min read

Feet on the Ground

I always promise myself that the week after I return from Ghana there will be at least five days when I will not be fidgety. I will take...

May 12, 20133 min read

On Mother’s Day: Two Women Remembered

There is a quiet debate these days about the politically correct word for mothers who give birth and then place their child for adoption....

Jan 8, 20134 min read

This Scarf and These Women

I made this scarf yesterday. This is quite possibly the ugliest scarf that has ever been stitched anywhere, anytime, any place. Yes, the...

Dec 17, 20123 min read

The Seamstress Apprentices

I wrote in a previous post that I don’t sew. My mother, however, was a dedicated seamstress for our family and she made quite a few of my...

Dec 10, 20123 min read

Elves, Shelves, and Bearded Old Men

Santa has disappeared from our house. By that, I mean that we no longer have children who believe that Santa climbs down the chimney,...

Nov 12, 20122 min read

Another Year, Another Sigh.

Well, here we are again. Another birthday for the third and youngest of our children – the now 12-year-old. The clock ticks and she...

Jun 16, 20123 min read

Making My Own Father’s Day Card

I’m a cynic about the card holidays: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Valentine’s Day. I blame it on the fact that I am cheap, but the...

Jun 3, 20122 min read

Let’s Grow Old Together

I almost fainted during my wedding portraits. Not because I was nervous, but because I bought a wedding dress that had not one inch to...

Apr 4, 20124 min read

Time Flies When You’re in a Rut

Summer is coming, and if it’s like every other summer of my adulthood it will last about three minutes. It seems like I’m buying beach...

Mar 18, 20125 min read

Road Trips, Starbursts, and Ram: A Technology Crisis

At the risk of redundancy, I’m writing again about technology. My last post (too many days ago) was about my father’s typewriter, which...

Mar 1, 20124 min read

The Loyal Royal

“My life was easy and I loved it.” These eight words are the opening to the heart-wrenching novella Angel Mountain. And it only gets...

Jan 24, 20123 min read

My Slow-Sewing Movement

Alison wants to learn to sew. This is one of the many times when I miss my mother. When she used to spend the night with my parents, Mom...