Month: December 2009

  • Escaping the ‘burbs

    When I was a kid in the 1960s, going to downtown Kansas City was a big deal. We always knew a week or so in advance that we were going and, on the big day, had to dress in our Sunday school clothes and nice shoes. We rarely went unless it was for a special…

  • More Snow Pictures

    We don’t get big snows that often around here, but this snowstorm is one I’m sure most of us will remember for a long time. For those whose Christmas plans and /or travels were grievously disrupted by the weather, the memories probably aren’t going to be all that pleasant, but for those of us lucky…

  • It’s a White Christmas

    The weather wonks were right! I give them so much grief, I thought it only fair to acknowledge when they are, in fact, correct. We woke up to snow this morning. It’s hard to tell exactly how much because it’s blowing and drifting like crazy, but we have a pile on the deck that’s probably…

  • Merry Christmas!

    The UPS man delivered the last box of gifts an hour or so ago. Whew! All the presents are now wrapped and under the tree. Dinner is in the oven. Dessert is cooling on the counter top, and–as the weather wonks predicted–the sleet and ice have begun to fall. We woke up to temperatures in…

  • “Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs”

    I had the pleasure of hearing Greg Mortenson, the author of the number one bestseller Three Cups of Tea, speak last night. He’s currently on a book tour promoting and signing his newest book, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan which came out two weeks ago. He’s also…

  • Don’t Grow Up…Yet

    I suspect that, like me, most moms spend half their time worrying that their children will never grow up and the other half wringing their hands that their babies are, in fact, doing just that. Well, at this point in life, I find myself with two grown-up, responsible adult children along with an equally grown-up,…

  • A More Meaningful Christmas

    I grew up during the Vietnam War. As a child, I had no understanding of the politics behind our involvement in a conflict half a world away; but, I was acutely aware that whatever was going on over there was often creating a great deal of conflict here at home. The evidence was everywhere, including…

  • My Own Fence Post Moment

    In the most recent post on her website, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, the current Poet Laureate of Kansas, writes: In Kansas where I live, particularly in the western part of the state, the land is curved and lined with beautiful stone fence posts, each one holding the wire fencing from one place to another. We have such…

  • My New Haircut: Going with the Grow

    For longer than I want to admit, Suzi, my hair stylist, has been trying to get me to stop forcing my hair into a style that goes against “the way it grows.” She’s tenacious. A real trooper. I’ll give her that. For several years now, after painstakingly cutting and shaping my short locks, Suzi has…

  • Hawaiian Sunsets

    Since both of our condos faced west–and because, as a group, we never managed to get up early enough to go out where we could see a sunrise–we are top heavy with sunset pictures. Now that we’re back home, I’m kind of kicking myself for not making the effort to capture a sunrise, but there’s…