Autumn is in the air! Birds are gathered on power lines, butterflies are getting together to prepare for their southerly journey, there have even been reports of tree leaves changing colors. Summer fishing is different than spring fishing, and fishing in the fall in several very important ...
It seemed a little creepy at first. Reading someone else’s mail just doesn’t feel right. After my mother passed away last November, one of my brothers came upon a stack of letters our father had sent to his parents during his training in the U.S. Army. I read them recently. Dad was drafted into the Army shortly after his 18th birthday in January 1945. We know in hindsight that the war would end that year, but Dad didn’t know that when he was drafted. The fourth of six children, Dad was living well on his parents’ farm a couple miles west of Titonka in northern Iowa’s ...
So there I was, sitting in my favorite camp dining hall in New Hampshire, with about 30 other central staff as we waited for our mid-summer banquet. The summer session was half over, campers and staff were gone for now, and the rest of us were just relaxing, kicking back before we were soon enough to be inundated with 150 boys for the next month. Fitting of a celebration in New England, our meal centered on fresh Maine lobster and steak. Yet much of the staff was also pretty excited about the fresh sweet corn on the cob that was scheduled to be served along with the lobster. ...
A few days ago I went to a small gathering to celebrate the birthday of a friend. Keep in mind that the other women there were all about my age, so it was nothing rowdy or boisterous, to say the least. We had a nice time visiting, taking some time to catch up with each other, and, of course, share in some good food. And that's enough. Which got me to thinking about how the way we commemorate our birthday anniversaries as we age. There are some folks, I've discovered, who don't even want to admit to another birthday and certainly won't tell their age. An obituary I read in the past ...
That sweet new baby you adore ̶ he/she is selfish, self-centered and ill-tempered. Just watch that baby when it’s time to eat or have a diaper changed. Or when big sister takes his binkie. We are all born that way but early in life, our parents work to change us. From the time we are toddlers we are taught to be nice. Our parents encourage us to share toys and to say “please” and “thank you.” We go to Sunday school and are taught that Jesus wants us to love one another and to do unto others as we would have them do to us. Kindergarten arrives and the effort is ...
I grew up on a farm near a town of 141 people. We'd ride our bikes the four miles into town with our dollar bill and head to the little grocery store. My friend's Dad owned the store and he'd watch us with eagle eyes. For that one dollar we could buy a Coke and 25 pieces of candy. There was a grain elevator, an implement store, a school, two churches, a butcher and a post office in town. My little town of Geneva, Iowa will always look like that to me. Today there's a restaurant, a hair salon, the elevator, and one church. The school and store were torn down. The implement store is ...
