We settled in our seats to await the beginning of the evening program. We were in the elementary school multipurpose room. The fourth and fifth grade students marched in, led by their teachers, and found their place on the risers at the front of the room. One of the benefits…
Hans Christian Anderson wrote fairy tales that I read as a child. Recently one of those stories has come to mind. In The Emperors New Clothes swindlers approach a self-indulgent King with a proposal. They have devised a very clever lie with their plot. They tell the King that the…
At the back of the book there are 57 pages of notes. Erik Larson has written a meticulous history based on government documents, letters and diaries. The book, In the Garden of the Beasts, provides a view of Nazi Germany through the eyes of the American ambassador. William Dodd was…
Our pastor has begun a series of messages from the book of Exodus and he pointed out the strong women mentioned in the first two chapters of this book. When the Egyptian King decreed that the Hebrew midwives should kill all Hebrew male babies Shiprah and Puah did not obey…
During WWII children were being evacuated from France and Paris. I just finished reading Until We Find Home, a historical novel by Cathy Gohlke. It is a story of unexpected hospitality. When Claire arrives at her aunt’s home in Windemere England with five French Jewish children she completely surprises her…
Kate’s prompt for Five Minute Friday is: FIVE. Once inspired, we write for five minutes (more or less). At first I considered writing about my five favorite herbs, or maybe five summer recipes. And then I made another connection. I have three grandchildren that are five years old. Children are…
They arrive in the middle of the summer . . . For the past several years the leaves on my cherry tree and raspberry bushes have been devoured by beetles. Only the veins of the leaf remain after Japanese beetles have had their feast. So I have been devising strategies…
In January and February I receive seed catalogues in the mail. I page through them, planning what I will plant in the spring, and I send in my order (or place it on-line). When the seed packets arrive they hold the promise of plants—herbs, flowers and vegetables. It is my…
When we visited Botanica, the Wichita Gardens, I especially enjoyed the focus on women and children. There is a children’s garden area where they can water plants. The children can walk through monster trees and climb the stairs to a fairy house. The peonies, roses, irises and clematis were in…
Recently I read the novel, Saving Amelie, by Cathy Gohlke. It is historical fiction set in Nazi Germany. The story involves twin girls who were the subjects of medical experimentation. The story was riveting. I didn’t know that there actually was a doctor (gynecologist) who was working on a vaccine…