Canning before the long winter was once a part of life for most homemakers in America. My grandmother was one of those homemakers, living with my grandfather and her two little boys on a farm in northwest Indiana. There, she had a large garden in the side yard, along with ...
Read More »When Satan Looks for a Fool
We’ve all been victim of someone’s fun at our expense when the calendar turns to April 1st. Everyone’s a prankster, trying to get the better of someone else, all in good fun. The origins of April Fool’s Day go back several centuries. In 18th century Scotland, April Fool’s Day centered ...
Read More »When God Says “If”
The song If, written by David Gates of the band Bread in 1971, was a number four U.S. Billboard hit of its day. Many remember the beautiful rock ballad playing on transistor radios, through open car windows, and in school gymnasiums hosting dances. The story goes that Gates wrote the ...
Read More »Fear, Spelled R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Respect was certainly a part of the learning experience in our elementary school. It began when we entered the building each morning. As our principal waited inside the doors to greet us at the start of each new day, any boy who had forgotten to remove his baseball cap had ...
Read More »Lesson From a Lunchbox
The lunchbox has been part of attending school since the late 1800’s. That’s when school children first made use of old cookie or tobacco tins saved by their mothers to carry that all-important mid-day meal with them to the classroom. I remember the lunchboxes of my own elementary school days ...
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