Today, I start a new Ultimate Blogging Challenge. In my last challenge, I chose to document life during the pandemic. But I was self quarantining in a house by myself. When the loneliness became too much for me, I let my imagination take over, and I started an imaginary trip around the world. It is […]

Peter DeMott, Ellen Grady,and two of their children. The photograph was takenduring the 2008 WitnessAgainst War walk from Chicagoto Saint Paul, Minnesota. One year ago, I traveled to Ithaca to participate in the Peter DeMott Peace Trot, which is a fundraiser for the Ithaca Catholic Worker. The Ithaca Catholic Worker community is one of a loosely

The weather has been strange lately, with hard frosts at night and snow falling on the second Saturday of May. You have to have resilience to deal with the atrocious and bizarrely changing weather. Having lived in inhospitable climates for most of my life, I would say that, at least in terms of dealing with

The process of cleaning and reorganizing continues. And I keep finding more and more treasures that were hidden among the old papers and other junk that seems to have mated and reproduced like mad tribbles from the original Star Trek series. One of the treasures that I found was a CD that held my entire

Who knows when life will go back to normal. Or even what normal is. Is there such a thing as normal? It’s not like a blizzard, which causes everything to stop for a while. At some point, the blizzard ends, the National Guard comes to remove the snow, and all goes on as it has

Yesterday, it got warm. And there was this strange U.F.O. in the sky, shining bright… oh, the sun! Never mind. The sun was shining. It hides all winter so I kind of forget what it looks like. Yeah, sunshine. So I went out for a walk to celebrate the loveliness of the day. Also, I

On Tuesday, I visited Kelly’s Country Store, which is a really fun place to visit on Grand Island. In the autumn, the store offers a country fair on its grounds, complete with food trucks, fresh produce, and fun activities for the kids. There’s even an old one-room schoolhouse on the grounds. Members of the Grand

It’s May, and it’s time to start thinking about what you want to grow in your garden. The pandemic is still going, but plants don’t seem to be affected by it. Also, growing plants will give you some level of happiness. It will be a great activity for you to do with the kids, since

When I was four years old, my mother discovered by accident that I knew how to read. Years later, this is the story that my mom told me: One evening, my mom was tired and wanted to sleep. She had four kids between the ages of one and eight, and she was tired.  Every day,

Many people are now saying that the stay at home /quarantine experience is leaving them bored. And there is something to that.  Home is familiar. Maybe a litte too familar. The days feel as if they are all alike? Can’t tell the difference? There are always hints as to what day it is. I know