And Just Like That . . . I’m a Great-grandmother by Donna Scrafano When I would hear someone say “time flies” as a younger person, I didn’t pay much attention. In fact, I don’t believe I paid close attention to this adage until my late fifties. By then I had my first five grandchildren. In Read more
Cross-Country, COVID-19, and Sweet Lemonade Part 4: Heading Home by Christina Fain Our route home would not be I-70. We decided that, “since we were in the neighborhood,” we would take in a few more sights using a more northerly route. With a little stab of disappointment, we drove our way through Wyoming in complete Read more
Textbook Hearts by Christina Fain I had an interesting discussion with my seven-year-old daughter recently. She said she didn’t get it when people say to her, “You have a good heart.” She didn’t understand and told me as a matter of fact “but we all have the same heart” and then drew me a picture Read more
Love in the Time of COVID: How to Celebrate Valentine’s Day Safely by Lucy E.M. Black It’s approaching that time of year when many of us acknowledge the special people in our lives by giving them Valentine’s Day cards, organizing small celebrations, or preparing other small loving gestures. This is yet one more occasion, unfortunately, Read more
15 Social Protocols for the Working World by Lucy E.M. Black As a writer of historical fiction, I am happy to own Social Etiquette: or Manners and Customs of Polite Society, published in 1878.* Books like this serve me well as useful references for nineteenth-century life, and, while some chapters of this book are obscure Read more
Planning Holidays In a Pandemic by Donna Scrafano Like everything else under pandemic restrictions, holidays have been and will continue to be celebrated differently in my family. When the world shut down in March, everyone seemed to be scrambling about trying to figure out how to live their daily lives. Holidays were not the main Read more
Home for the Holidays This year, many of our writers and contributors will have a new tradition of sorts for the holidays, no thanks to COVID19. In honor of our fabulous family of writers, I asked them to send a short sentence or two on how they will be spending Thanksgiving this year. Remember that Read more
Turning 50 with My Twin By Jude Joseph Lovell We were there. On a long porch, at night. Isolated from the world. Thick clouds smothering the moon and stars. Wind trampling through the dark trees. Branches snapping in the mist like brittle bones. Night creatures chittering and screeching. There was no fear. We were together. Read more
Intergenerational House Sharing by Donna L. Scrafano Last year, I was forced to make some major, life-changing decisions. My 90-year-old father, whom I was taking care of (and who has since died), was ailing, and his condition was getting worse. So we decided that it was best that he and I live with my daughter Read more
Cross-Country, COVID-19, & Sweet Lemonade Part 2 – Missouri and Kansas by Christina Fain After a pizza and a good night’s rest in St. Louis, we continued west. The Missouri landscape soon began to change from our familiar rolling hills to an ebbing and flowing terrain of green hills settling into miles of flattening fields. Read more
