Pigpen Patios; the end of an era

The End of an Era / Pigpen Patios I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t a pigpen on this ranch, even if there were no little porkers in residence. As recently as when my kids were small, there were still piglets raised here. Actually that’s not so recent now. It’s been at least two [...]

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Trying to Keep Silent

I’m trying hard these days to shut up and not having much success. But I’m only at the beginning of the Twelve Step Program. It seems a shame that one hopefully lives all these long years acquiring some knowledge, experience and wisdom. By the time one is old enough to have garnered a good supply, [...]

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Writers vs Texters

There are writers and there are texters. I’m a writer. My daughter recently warned me against sending too long an email thank you to one of her associates. “He doesn’t have time to read it”, she warned.  So I wrote what I considered a short, succinct (for me) message, grammatically correct, appropriately grateful and well-constructed. [...]

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Paper or Plastic?

I’ve regressed yet another step back in time. We’ve been called old-fashioned. I live in an old farmhouse with antiques —and not just Zack and the dog. New things don’t look quite right here. We make certain exceptions like appliances, computers, and vehicles. SOMETIMES newer IS better. Despite the prescient word whispered to young Ben [...]

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Preconceived Notions

I was thinking about preconceived notions. I’ll give you an example. I always imagined by this age, I’d feel, act, and look REALLY OLD. I can’t do as much about the latter, but I don’t believe I act OR feel as old as I expected to by this point. My parents, their siblings, cousins and [...]

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Serendipity

Talk about serendipity. I’ve always said that we never know what may fall upon us from the sky. Sometimes it’s good, and sometimes—-well, not so much. Often these surprises make us scratch our heads in wonder. Now that we’re in the middle of repairing the ceilings in the little farm house and painting the hideous [...]

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Preconceived Notions

                I was thinking about preconceived notions. I’ll give you an example. I always imagined by this age, I’d feel, act, and look REALLY OLD. I can’t do as much about the latter, but I don’t believe I act OR feel as old as I expected to by this point. My parents, their siblings, cousins [...]

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Party Time

    Ever since Zack came home from six months in hospitals, he’s wanted to throw a party. For the first year or two, it was out of the question. We previously held an annual New Year’s Day party, but declared the weather too cold to continue this tradition. It seemed we never, for our [...]

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Recycling II

I wrote before of recycling and repurposing a vintage alligator purse into a clutch bag — and an old mink stole/fur lining into an au currant vest. It occurred to me I’ve repurposed plenty of things in my lifetime. Some of my transformations resemble the ordinary recycling that people of moderate means have always employed. [...]

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Plum Good

Plum Good I have fond, if hot, memories of my parents making plum and grape jelly.  I remember accompanying them to pick the plums at least once when I was very small, probably too small to do much actual picking. I can definitely conjure up the feeling of intense heat in our kitchen during the [...]

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