-
the Christmas tree farm
The traditions of Christmas are many and varied, depending on your cultural heritage and family practice. In our family there was always a fresh cut tree to decorate at Christmas, partly because that was the family business! Tens of thousands of trees have come from the Corsi Tree Farm in southern Ohio. It was started…
-
A wedding? Keep your britches on!
Today is my niece’s wedding day. She is my only niece and she is a dear young woman and I would love to have been at her wedding, but circumstances don’t allow it. I have seen some photos of the preparations and they are considerable. The wedding is taking place at my brother’s farm and…
-
A Visit to Ohio
Mom ( Australian translation: Mum) lives in a very nice assisted living facility in an apartment, but it is only one bedroom. (Photo below) Consequently, when we visit these days we stay in a hotel. The one we have settled on is a Holiday Inn about 20 minutes away. The setting is not the Ben…
-
Only 3 meals a day?
When you get old you eat less. Or you should. But if you love food, like we do, there just aren’t enough meals in the day. So when our daughter visits, it is a wonderful excuse toward excess. In the first 24 hours after she arrived I made Chili con Carne with corn bread, and…
-
Finke follow-on
To those of you who are interested… the Finke race finishes today but for our Chad it finished late yesterday. He had a crash about 40k into the 240k first leg and injured his shoulder (the one he injured very badly several years ago). Keen to finish, he struggled on, trying to tightly hold the…
-
Finke
Every year on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend there is a race run in the outlying desert area near Alice Springs. It’s called the Finke Desert Race. Locals call it the Finke, or just Finke because Aussies shorten everything! The organisers label it ‘the most fun you can have with a helmut on’… okay I’ll…
-
Munch-able Muesli, Great Granola
One of the most consistent and enjoyable habits of my entire life has been sharing recipes. I copied the first recipe from my childhood girlfriend at about the age of 9. It was for ‘Snickerdoodle’ cookies. I still have the handwritten recipe in my file. I also have, in a small frame, my Grandmother’s handwritten…
-
Mother’s Day
Even though I don’t particularly enjoy the commercial aspect of Mother’s Day, it is my favourite holiday. American Thanksgiving is the second. They are both about being grateful for what you have. I woke up today, Mother’s Day 2013 to rain. Not just rain, actually, it is pelting down! Living in an arid zone that…
-
Grief
It has been just over two months since Dad died. I have been through grief before. Without intending to demean his loss, it is pretty much like the other times I have grieved. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s legacy to our society was her determination of the five stages of grief (read: http://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/). Her original concept is fairly…
-
“If you cannot be the poet, be the poem” – David Carradine
Today I received a copy of a poem written 70 years ago by my Grandmother. She was a remarkable woman for her kindness and quiet strength, her piano teaching talent and her poetry that she often included in our birthday cards. She led a very humble life. She survived breast cancer, raised four children and…
ardysez 