Not one book recommendation posted in 2022. What is up with that? I have no idea. Bet you thought I wasn’t reading! I read 40 books last year, but I did not make notes nor did I make any posts. Maybe I was just getting back to living a normal life again or maybe I just wanted to read for, you know, just to read. I had planned to make this post in January, but the drive to do so just wasn’t there (perhaps because I was sick – all better now, but it took a bit). I am going to list and give a…
First House I Remember – Colorado
Oh, if the walls of our house could talk. A cliché I know, but really. What if they could? What could they reveal? Triggering Childhood Memories One of the writer’s notebook activities I used in the past with students to help generate memories is to draw the layout of a childhood home. In June 2020, I wrote about a fragment of time at our home in Grand Junction, Colorado. The house in Grand Junction on Belford Avenue is the first house I can really remember from childhood. My mom loved that house for the simple fact that it was in Colorado, the place where she…
These Houses – What Secrets Do They Hold?
An Introduction to the Houses Sometimes when I am driving familiar routes in town, I wonder about the houses and the memories those houses hold. There is one house in particular that I drive by almost daily. When I first started teaching (twenty-six years ago), the couple that owned the house would host fish fries every spring to bring together the faculty and administration from the school where I worked. I think I went to two or three, and they were always fun. The couple no longer lives in that house, but driving by it has caused me to think about the memories associated with…
Women’s History Month – My Thoughts
This has actually been on my mind for quite awhile, so I am glad to finally write it. In honor of Women’s History Month, I share some thoughts I have had the last year about rights for women. Society has come a long way, but there is still a fight to win. Some Context Last year, I was watching an early episode of Mrs. America* on Hulu. One scene caught me a little off guard, and I began to wonder. The scene of Schlafly taking a credit card application into her husband’s office for him to sign so that she could obtain a credit card…
The Boutique and a Book Recommendation
I have a few new posts that I am working on, but today I only want to give a quick update on our booth/boutique and recommend a book that I read this month. Soul of Quick and Jones – The New Boutique If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you know that last October we rented booth space at a local facility that would allow us to “open” our little boutique. I have contemplated over the last two or three years doing an online store via Etsy or some other platform, but I really wanted something physical and local. We checked on The Pirate’s…