Writing and Rambling

Every year at Apple Butter season, my mind remembers the taste of it– the warm, rich, caramelized taste of apple butter stirred outside over an open fire, with the scarlet leaves falling in the last symphony of the season before…
Read more

Hmm My Pennsylvania grandparents didn’t talk much. That’s not to say that they didn’t communicate– far from it.  They just found words to be superfluous. One word that they did use more than most was “Hmm.”  I learned that hmm…
Read more

“Those round, pinkish red things that are available in the stores bear no resemblance at all to the real tomato.”  ― Craig Lehoullier For the Love of Tomatoes You never forget your very first lie. I was 5 years old.  The…
Read more

Pennsylvania Manners Mr. Bingley: It’s a fair prospect. Mr. Darcey: Pretty enough, I grant you. Mr. Bingley: Oh, it’s nothing to Pemberley, I know, but I must settle somewhere. Have I your approval? Mr. Darcy: You’ll find the society something…
Read more

I’ll Be There My dad and I didn’t always get along perfectly.   We argued sometimes, just like any father and daughter will do.  He scolded me for coming in late and went over my dates with a fine tooth comb….
Read more

Drought I can still remember the drought. The weather in Pennsylvania was almost always fairly mild– I remember as a child the temperature seldom getting “up into the nineties.”  The nights were cool, with refreshing breezes.  The rains were regular,…
Read more

I Wonder   I wonder if someday, when we walk in the street Look up and see the sunshine– maybe talk to those we meet: Will we think how wondrous a thing it is When someone holds our hand, or…
Read more