Grief doesn’t keep a schedule.  It doesn’t look in and ask: “is this an okay day for you? Cuz if it isn’t, I can come back another time.”  Grief pretty much comes by when it needs to.  I guess.

 I knew this was coming and I thought I… Read full post »

One of the interesting things about having a hobby such as collecting old coffee pots is that people tend to think of you whenever they spot something that they think might belong in your collection.  It’s sort of a warm fuzzy in many ways.  A few years ago, my mother spotted… Read full post »

Yesterday I joined my sister, Peggy and my mother for a road trip to Geneseo, IL to visit Peggy’s son Mark and his wife, Kyle and their three children: Connor, Cailin and Carson.

This morning we learned that the city honors its veterans by displaying a flag for every… Read full post »

This week’s coffee pot is another Manning Bowman Work of Art. This was the first pot that I purchased from ebay. Isn’t it a statuesque beauty? The spout pours as beautifully as it looks – in a long elegant arc. Manufactured in 1933, it also has an extra fuse still… Read full post »

Cooking is not my natural art form. I just don’t do it well. I don have that feel for blending flavors, adding a little of this, a little of that, grabbing a red or yellow pepper for the sake of presentation. I have some tried and true recipes that I stick… Read full post »

I’m not one for the macabre or ghoulishness, never have been. My kids have always had hand-made costumes: horse, cow, southern belle, cell phone, giant baseball glove. I always have candy for trick or treaters. About a decade ago, I was moved to fill my yard with paper bag luminarias on… Read full post »

I Knew Things Were Going Down a Bad Road When the Color Turned Green Bay Packer Gold

A true Wisconsinite, I have proudly rooted for the Green and Gold many times over many years.  I am old enough to have been around for each of their two great/… Read full post »

I didn’t want to do a new post so soon because I like to leave a few days space because I’m afraid that if I post too many too fast hardly any will get read and I really do hope that you all read the previous post of  Sedona… Read full post »

Landing in Phoenix was one thing, we still had a couple of hours of “gettin to Sedona to do.” You will remember, if you read the first piece in this series, that back in Milwaukee, we had chided my brother Joe, for putting a kink in the general plans for streamlined… Read full post »

I have for some weeks now been bereft of any creative energy, hence my long absence.  I have not even had the wherewithal to check in and read my favorites from time to time and comment, which I feel terrible about because so many of you are so great about leaving… Read full post »

Shannon is my second born. She arrived in this life in much the same manner that she arrives anywhere: with the intent to be there – a short fast burst of labor, and there she was in my arms. Her Dad and I had been seated at the counter of… Read full post »

Sedona (first in a series) – Getting There

Growing up in a large family in the 1950’s and 60’s did not lend itself to taking family vacations for numerous reasons. It was a different time then. Of course there were some families who did, particularly as lifestyles morphed int… Read full post »

 

Orgasmic Plumbing

            Many American households do their utmost on occasion to avoid a call to the plumber.  Sometimes this means that the household lives with the faulty plumbing until the handy person of the family finds t/… Read full post »

Because it’s not a good idea and I’ll tell you why. Some of you have read my previous musings on this subject. I’m asking you to stay with me while I fill in the newcomers and then I will broaden the scope, so to speak.

Several years ago, my daughters… Read full post »

 

My friend Derba was in my kitchen the other day.  Her name is actually Debra, but I found it humorous one day to switch the r and the b around to make it Derba.  Fortunately for me, she actually thinks that I’m funny when I do this sort… Read full post »

It feels different this year, even though it is not all that different than other years. Katie graduated from UW Madison on May 16^th. Shannon graduated from North Central College on June 13^th. We had an open house gathering of family and friends Jun14th and later that evening, Shannon, with… Read full post »

Last year,

Sad and alone,

Because my marriage was ending,

I drove to a parking lot at the edge of town

To watch from a distance the city’s fireworks display.

I hadn’t watched any for years.

There were mosquitoes

And I wished that I… Read full post »

I know it has been a while, which is why I will speak to the second topic first. I’ve not had any energy to speak of these recent weeks – not depression, although not having any energy can get me down a bit – just an indescribable level of fatigue/exhaustion that… Read full post »

Katie Mahoney is 23 years old today. She’s not happy about that, the number 23 that is. It’s a prime number. She doesn’t like them; she thinks that they’re uninteresting and difficult to work with. (God, whose daughter is she? That would be me, the one with the whimsy/…

Read full post »

There’s been a great deal of baseball affinity expressed here recently; I wanted to add this to the mix.  It is one of the first pieces I wrote when I started writing in 2003 and it remains one of my favorite efforts, probably based more in sentimentality than merit, but I… Read full post »

 

Yesterday I cleaned my sectional sofa, known to some as the “man-eating couch”.  We splurged on it the first year that I was home.  It is a soft butter yellow colored, microfiber, overstuffed, L-shaped, huge thing with a chaise on one end, a recliner on the other, anoth… Read full post »

My sister Mary called me in mid-January with the news that there were some great airfares available into New Orleans.  She was excited that I might be able to come during Mardi Gras and do some parades with her.  She especially wanted me to see  “Muse, The Shoe Parade” whic… Read full post »

New Orleans Journal

March 13th

I am here. The funk has lifted. It is warm. It is a little humid. If feels good to be in… Read full post »

I leave for New Orleans today.  I have been struggling for days, beating back the edges of my depression.  I feel like someone replaced my prescription with placebo pills.  I am hoping that the sun and blossoming and warmth and the company of my sister and her dog, Maggie… Read full post »

I’ll be leaving Thursday to visit my sister in Louisiana.  I’ll be flying in to New Orleans for the weekend where my sister’s husband lives and she will meet me there for the weekend that is to include the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and a tour to see the… Read full post »