Brutus doesn’t like to go out in the cold, which is a great thing because we don’t worry about him escaping and running into the dreaded “Cat Man” up the street who would like to do away with him for good.  One of the glorious things about winter is being…

Last week:  shoveling and grumbling. This week:  it’s melting!  Hooray!  I love 40 degrees.  I really do.  It’s perfect walking weather, and fresh air is magnificent.

For five consecutive years I have documented our family’s daily life by taking at least one picture almost every single day.  At least I try to.  I miss a few days here and there.  Our newest book, the pictures from 2015 arrived recently, and everyone has been enjoying perusing through…

He said to me in the car, “Mom, were you born yet when the Vikings sailed across the ocean?”

Hyacinths are native plants in the Eastern Mediterranean:  Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, and parts of Iraq. No Children = no mess.  During their winter break from school the kidless spent some time with their grandma (they had a fabulous time) and I was all alone in my house.  (I love them…

For my birthday, my friend gave me a hyacinth bulb and forcing jar.  I started the bulb on New Years Day, along with some paper white bulbs.  The paper whites grew fast and bloomed and are on their way to demise.  The hyacinth bulb grew so very slowly, but it’s…

This week he’s been busy constructing with unit blocks and plastic Hot Wheels track that has been floating around our house for years and years.  There’s a big basket of cars, and he tests each track to see which cars work the best for every configuration he creates.  Whenever my…

This morning the historic sanctuary of a church in my city burned.  It wasn’t my church, but it was a church that I have sung in many times, a church where my choir has rehearsed and performed, and it was an exceptionally beautiful sanctuary, my favorite of all the churches…

In the winter you can spot many feet in my city clad in mukluks.  Mukluks are made in Ely, MN, about an hour away.  (Ely is the same place Wintergreen outerwear is made, and my Wintergreen winter coat has been my best friend for 8 winters now.  I plan on wearing…