Granny Thelma set the tone for the first day of her 95th year on this bold and beautiful earth by sashaying into her birthday party, throwing her arm into the air and announcing, "I'm here!" The lady knows how to make an entrance! She also knows how to live. Thelma loves universally and mothers with [...]
Al fresco season blew into Wisconsin on a charcoal-scented cloud this weekend and we all -- traveling troubadours, weekend skippers, ATV drivers, backyard barbecuers, Timber Rattler tailgaters, cabin cleaners and Midwest munchers -- dusted off our picnic tables and bellied up with glee. Food tastes better when you can eat it outside. Music sounds sweeter [...]
My mom called me from her flip phone on a sunny spring day. “Laura,” she said. “I can’t do Facetime but I want you to know that our baby is beautiful.” I know this, of course. “Our baby” is my mom’s great-granddaughter, my granddaughter Margo Lake, and, like all baby humans, she has grown even [...]
My sister Kathy is the middlest of middle children, Switzerland in family squabbles and loathe to offend anyone. But, you don't want to mess with her when it comes to books or the children who read them. A retired library media specialist, Kathy has made it her mission to read or re-read every banned book. [...]
Tuesday night belonged to the E Street Band, my sisters and me. Well, mostly it belonged to me and Bruce, but it was also fun to have my sisters along. I last saw Bruce Springsteen perform live back in 1984 when I was a summer intern at the hot rockin', flame throwin' Z95 radio station [...]