Thanks, Grandpa… You weren’t American, but you fought valiantly for the cause overseas. I never met my grandfather. He had died in Peshawar, India, fighting for the Black Watch during World War l. Peshawar was on the northern frontier of British India, near the Khyber Pass. In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly independent …
Category: Memories
May 25
It’s Also National Tap Dance Day!
Another of the Who Knew?-type posts. It’s National Tap Dance Day. When I was a little kid, I took the “required” ballet and tap classes for a year. My mom has a picture of me in my tutu and one in my majorette costume for the tap recital. I imagine I only took for the year …
May 25
Nashville
Next week I’m going to a conference in Nashville for one of my jobs. The last time – actually the only other time – I was there, it was for a Cushing’s Conference. There are two albums of photos on Facebook from that conference. Part one and Part two (Duh!) It makes me sad just …
May 23
Every Time It Rains…
See a penny, pick it up… All day long you’ll have good luck. When you are out and about today, look on the ground for pennies. It just might be your lucky day! My mom is forever picking up pennies – or anything that’s cash-looking. She’s made a record over the …
May 01
Happy May Day!
When we were kids, we learned how to dance a Maypole dance but no one else I’ve ever asked remembers doing this. Maybe it was just my small town? This was the town that gave out cherry pies for Washington’s birthday, too. I don’t remember much about learning how to do this, other than …
Mar 17
Saint Patrick’s Day / Riverdance
Every year on March 17, the Irish and the Irish-at-heart across the globe observe St. Patrick’s Day. What began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green. When I was a …
Mar 16
It All Started With a Train
I was reading this great article at https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/best-scenic-train-rides-us?wpsrc=thrillist and saw that the header image was a train we were on in 2007, the White Pass & Yukon Route out of Skagway, Alaska. The Thrillist folks said “As you cruise along the side of frighteningly sheer cliff-drops on this narrow-gauge railway, you can’t help but wonder who in …
Mar 15
Ides of March
Everyone knows we’re supposed to beware the Ides of March and may even remember they’re from William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” but what exactly do they mean? The Ides of March marked the day the Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the Roman Senate in 44 B.C.E. A soothsayer, or psychic, warned Caesar …
Jan 13
Also on January 13…
Today, January 13, holds a couple anniversaries for me. I remember the day of the Air Florida Flight 90 Crash in 1982 so well. We were living in the Metro DC area and our young son had just turned 2 in December. Tom, my DH, worked in DC and I was never sure the route that …