We’ve been lucky enough to spend the last week on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. It’s been a welcome change from the frigid winter the midwest has experienced this year. The reality of returning will hit us soon enough. It’s been a wonderful vacation, full of fun, great scenery, even greater food, and an opportunity…
American Experience
Monarchs on Maui
This week I am vacationing on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. It is our fourth visit to the Hawaiian Islands and our third to the island of Maui. This vacation was planned quickly, less than two and a half months ago, but came together despite the fast timing. Our previous visits have taken six months…
Vintage Sales
If you’ve read recent posts, you know my husband and I have been cleaning out. This week was productive as we took a whole carload of stuff over to our local reuse-it store. I also have a tote ready to go to the consignment store where I occasionally take gently used household items or knick-knacks…
Goals for the New Year
I’ve given some thought to my goals for the new year. At this point, my OLW is still being decided upon but I am considering a word that many will feel that they can either relate to it or feel that it is not enough to push towards. Those in the second lot may not…
Poetry Friday: A Tribute
Usually, I am unaffected by a celebrity’s death. I think it’s because I do not have a personal relationship with them. I feel sad but have little sense of loss for myself, more loss for the world in which they belonged, especially when the person who died made valuable contributions. But, in the passage of…
Silent Sunday: The Best of 2021 Food, Art, Travel, and Nature.
Slice of Life: Etiquette
I’ve been trying to scale back my blogging to allow me time to write and accomplish some other goals. This is hard while still having a desire to keep my regular blog readers engaged in my posts. Therefore, some of my posts are becoming shorter. Some might consider this a very good thing! As the…
Foodie Monday: Grandma’s Cutout Cookies
We all romanticize some things about our childhood and for me, it is the memory of my Grandma’s cutout cookies at Christmas time. I remember the smell of her house when she was baking, sweet anise filled the air along with the smell of the soft sugary white cookie in the oven. Her dining room…
Poetry Friday: A Sanibel Beach Memory
A Sanibel Memory Tiny broken shards of shell Strewn across the ground like Broken glass Summer’s breath hot and strong Blows across the beach Making it hard to stand Your blue bucket tips Shells scatter, blown farther than Your little legs can carry you No tears, just laughter, as you Struggle to stay standing in…
Snow: It’s All Relative…
There’s snow and then, there’s SNOW! Yesterday, a winter storm was forecast for a large area of the midwest, including the region of Wisconsin in which we live. Thursday night, the night before the storm was to hit, and without any flakes yet flying, some outlying rural districts had pre-emptively closed school for the next…




