Eloise Wilkin has always been my favorite children’s book illustrator. In fact, she’s probably my very favorite illustrator ever (excepting my husband’s drawings of classic cars and my daughter’s “pictures,” of course!). I grew up with my parents reading me the Golden Sturdy Shape Book versions of My Good Morning Book and My Good Night…
Ah, springtime… Geese flying, calling across the morning sky; brighter sunshine; longer days; balmy winds; mud underfoot; little rivers running down, down, down, carrying winter away with them. Two days ago, I was walking across the pasture bareheaded, my two small boys tagging along and my baby on my back, watching the creek run. That…
The hardest thing about living far from where I grew up is going back. Going back and seeing how people have changed. The added wrinkles, the feebler steps. They jump out at you, mockingly asking why you stayed away so long. Yet it is because of the absence that they are so easily noticed. The…
Sometimes I have to laugh at the varied reading material we have sitting on our coffee table. Hot Rod magazine right next to the latest issue of No Greater Joy. The Ezzo’s Childwise beneath Ginger Plowman’s Don’t Make Me Count to Three on heart-oriented discipline (coming more from the same perspective than you might guess). …
We’ve been married just two years, but my husband and I have begun to realize we’re already falling into that “old married couple” category. We like going to bed early. We have to have our Sunday afternoon naps. And they just don’t make love songs like they did when we were young. A few months…
Early spring days at our little family antique store can be a bit slow, lending themselves to rearranging the displays, dusting the tables, and reading some good old books. (It would really be unpardonable to read a new book behind the counter of an antique store, would it not?) Three of them stood out as…
“Food prepared with a light heart and in a happy frame of mind is often the best food. Preparing the special foods that are favorites of those you love…making just a little effort to garnish the salad with a sprig of parsley, a bit of grated cheese, or a wild strawberry from the nearby meadow….
Flipping through a new cookbook, just glancing at the pictures can make your mouth start to water. But before you pay for the cookbook based on salivary appeal alone, take a second look, and see if you can actually make the recipes included. Is it so gourmet that it calls for ingredients that aren’t in…
Becoming a parent turns the topics of burps and messy diapers into everyday conversation. It also makes you a connoisseur of baby products. Don’t get Merritt and me started on collapsible baby gyms, one-piece potty chairs, or folding baby swings. Things have changed a lot since our youngest siblings were born 10 and 16 years…
“I need say nothing of household economy, in which the mothers of our country are generally skilled, and generally careful to instruct their daughters. We all know its value, and that diligence and dexterity in all its processes are inestimable treasures. The order and economy of a house are as honorable to the mistress as…
(a letter from Ruth Wiechmann in response to Sourdough, Laundry, and Tea…) Dear Gretchen, We have had a few days of spring weather here in south-western South Dakota, and yesterday I heard the first robins singing in the cottonwoods by the creek. It’s a Sunday morning, and I suppose we should be in Church, but–guess…
One of the wonderful things about owning an antique store is it gives you an excuse to go book shopping–and an outlet to sell books to make more room on your bookshelves. Often I’ll pick up a book at a sale because it looks interesting, but after reading it decide it’s not one I want…
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The End.