My mother’s brother was a college professor at Shiprock College (now renamed Diné College) in New Mexico. He met and married my aunt Grace, a Navajo woman. This was exciting news in my all-white Iowa family. Uncle Jim was coming to town with his new bride. Uncle Jim was tall and slim, and had a… Continue reading The Navajo in the Room
Category: grandma
Just Me and the Pups
(re-run) It’s New Year’s Eve and my adult children just left for a party. My eldest and her hubby flew home this morning. The house is empty except for me and three dogs. They’re calm now, but at midnight, when the fireworks go off, Daisy will dive under the bed. As I scroll on Facebook,… Continue reading Just Me and the Pups
Tone Deaf to Tone Deafness
I’ve been singing my whole life. I went to school when music programs in elementary schools still existed. My grandma taught me to play the piano. I would sing along as I practiced. I sang in the 6th grade chorus and sang in an octette at the Iowa State Fair. It never occurred to me… Continue reading Tone Deaf to Tone Deafness
The Gun at Grandma’s House
(re-run) The thing was cold, black, and heavy. Even though I was just a kid, maybe nine or ten, I knew a gun when I saw it. I’d been jumping on Grandma Nellie’s bed. The pillow had fallen on the floor. The gun was under the pillow. I put everything back the way I found… Continue reading The Gun at Grandma’s House
Grandma’s Basement
(re-run) My grandpa and his dad built a house into the side of a hill. The main floor had three small bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room and stairs to the kitchen below. The kitchen looked out over the hill down to the creek and had windows and a back door with a screen door.… Continue reading Grandma’s Basement
Tartan Plaids and an Angry Boy
Monday afternoon the power went out in Monterey. There were high winds. I ran to the Goodwill after working in the wind, picking up pine cones, twigs, tree moss, and branches, and will have to do it again the next time I go down there to check on my little house. While I was there,… Continue reading Tartan Plaids and an Angry Boy
The Gun at Grandma’s House
The thing was cold, black, and heavy. Even though I was just a kid, maybe nine or ten, I knew a gun when I saw it. I’d been jumping on Grandma Nellie’s bed. The pillow had fallen on the floor. The gun was under the pillow. I put everything back the way I found it… Continue reading The Gun at Grandma’s House
The Moon Landing and a Funeral
(re-run) The day we landed on the moon (July 20th, 1969), my parents took the family to a picnic/fishing spot at the Des Moines reservoir. I was going into high school in the fall, so it was a dorky thing to do on a Sunday, but hey? I couldn’t drive yet, and the food was… Continue reading The Moon Landing and a Funeral
A Mouse in the Bed
(re-run) When my oldest child was in 4th or 5th grade, she told me one morning that there was a mouse in her bed. “There’s no mouse in your bed!” I said. “There is,” she said. “I felt it crawling over my leg.” She went off to school, and I told my mother, who was… Continue reading A Mouse in the Bed
A Mouse in the Bed
(re-run) When my oldest was in 4th or 5th grade, she told me one morning that there was a mouse in her bed. “There’s no mouse in your bed!” I said. “There is,” she said. “I felt it crawling over my leg.” She went off to school, and I told my mother, who was visiting… Continue reading A Mouse in the Bed
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 