At the library, I ignored dozens of new audiobooks and checked out Old Yeller instead. I wondered why. Was I simply feeling nostalgic, remembering lazy summer afternoons reading beneath the old elm tree in our backyard, or was something deeper…
The haunting call of a loon echoes across the lake outside our cabin. To me, no sound says “summer up north” quite like a loon. “Sunnie, let’s go,” I whisper to our puppy as we head for the dock. The…
Right before my granddaughter Maria’s wedding, her sister Vanessa handed me a lacey handkerchief and said the bride wanted me to have it. As she hurried off to deliver others, I smiled at the thoughtfulness of the gift. It wasn’t…
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, I find myself imagining an unusual lunch guest. What if Abigail Adams, first lady of our country from 1797–1801, joined me on the back deck for lemonade and conversation? I picture her studying the…
As I measure out the oatmeal for a batch of “Soft Oatmeal Molasses Cookies,” I find myself thinking about marriage. My husband and I celebrated our 49th anniversary this month. In just a few weeks, we’ll attend our granddaughter’s wedding.…
It was a cool morning, and I happily stepped inside the warm, humid butterfly house off Highway H in the Dells. A yellow swallowtail flew toward me while other butterflies flitted about as a worker set out fresh banana and…
Being Sunnie’s human is never dull. Life with a puppy is filled with surprises. This morning, I spent several minutes working on a routine to show family and friends all the commands Sunnie has learned. I’m setting the choreography to…
While Juan Ponce de León spent his life searching for the fountain of youth, Betty Heller-Hobbs seems to have found it right here in Wisconsin Dells. At 93, her eyes still sparkle with mischief and curiosity. My husband and I…
I walked toward the doors of Lake Delton Elementary for what was likely the last time. The school where I had taught for thirty-three years would soon close, but the memories still rushed in. My fourth-graders hopped in potato sacks…
Forty-nine years ago, my husband, Frank, of only a few months, and my father dug up a silver maple sapling from the yard of the home where I had spent my teen years. Back in the 1970s, people often planted…