Category: Reminiscing
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Suddenly, It’s the Holidays!
Reading Time: 5 minutesI blinked. Suddenly, we’re less than a month from the END of 2024. We’ve passed Thanksgiving and are speeding toward Christmas. And then, just a few days later, it’ll be the year 2025. 2025! It sounds like a pop song from my high school years that asked whether man will still be… Read more
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He Broke Through My Defenses
Reading Time: 2 minutesI’ve never been an animal person. No animals ever crossed the threshold of my house, even if they were just visiting. The major reason for this aversion is I was bit by a neighbor’s dog when I, myself, was just a young pup. And again, when I was very young, I spent… Read more
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The End for Tupperware? Or Not?
Reading Time: 2 minutesAbout 18 months ago I wrote a short post about Tupperware. As a young (cash-strapped) housewife, I found a way to afford some of the “can’t live without” marvelous products that I saw during those “free” but fun social events I always looked forward to, Tupperware parties. I still have Tupperware in… Read more
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Pure Dumb Luck
Reading Time: 5 minutesRandy and I moved a lot in our marriage. I made a list not long ago and counted 18 change of residences in our 49 years. In a lot of those places, we didn’t consider how the home’s location or features would affect our quality of life. Surely, we wanted to be… Read more
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Florida’s Wild Weather
Reading Time: 6 minutesAfter Hurricane Ian in September 2022, I didn’t write much about the experience of riding out our first hurricane. I knew people wanted to know we were ok, and I said enough about it on this blog and social media to make sure they knew we were. To be honest, I don’t… Read more
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Swamp Peddlers
Reading Time: 5 minutesA couple of weeks ago our Rotonda West Homeowners Association held a presentation by the Charlotte County historian on the history of Rotonda. I’m always interested in history, especially when I am fairly new to an area. I’d read a book written by Rotonda resident Jack Alexander in 1995 called Rotonda: The… Read more
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Florida to Wisconsin. The Hard Way.
Reading Time: 5 minutesI have a nickname (in the vein of Native American names like Sitting Bull, Wilma Mankiller, or Crazy Horse) in the Grathen family…. Maps Are My Life. Randy’s sister, Kristine, calls me this because I love road maps. I especially like them when we’re traveling by car, which, if you’re a regular… Read more
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Age Has Nothing to Do With It
Reading Time: 4 minutesOne of my favorite memories of all time is when I was babysitting my great-niece, then age 3 or 4, and she asked me if she could play with my phone. She’s 16 now, so this was about 12 years ago, 2012 or so. At the time I still had a flip… Read more
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Goodbye, Xenon
Reading Time: 2 minutesThis week we said goodbye to a good and faithful servant, our 2014 VW Passat TDI (diesel engine) who we named Xenon. She was the second diesel Passat we owned. In 2012 we bought a new one, silver, from the dealer in Springfield, Missouri. Randy was in love with the diesel engine… Read more
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Clean Underwear and Ibuprofen
Reading Time: 4 minutesMy niece, Emilee, is here for a few days from Wisconsin. Her daughter’s 8th birthday was last week, the same day as Randy’s birthday. She told me last night she’s having a roller skating party for her daughter next weekend. My goodness, that brought back memories, of both the skating, and of a… Read more