Every year the small town where I live has a Chalk Art Event. Local business owners sponsor an artist who designs a chalk drawing on the sidewalk in front of their stores. The small downtown turns into a great combination of chalk art, live music, food vendors and community engagement. It’s a great way to […]
Last Sunday my husband celebrated 80 years of life! Reaching that milestone is cause for anyone to celebrate, but for us it was very special. Last March he fell and had emergency surgery for a brain bleed. For several days it was not clear just how much damage might have occurred. I was warned he […]
Most of my life I have lived near the Mississippi River. Living in southern Illinois near St. Louis, Missouri I crossed the river almost every day as I lived in Illinois but worked in Missouri. The arch dominates the view as you cross into downtown St. Louis. Taking over two years to build (1963 to […]
Reading the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke today I noticed the two questions in the story. The first set of questions was from a young man who asked Jesus what were the requirements of obtaining eternal life. Jesus said you could summarize the entire Law and Prophets with two basic commandments. Love the […]
Well I did it! I won the last Scrabble game of 2019 – making me the champion! My last post told the tale of my husband’s effort to catch me. My husband did his best – but couldn’t catch me. He tells me he is now depressed. (A joke only – he’s fine.) But guess […]
When my husband and I take a trip we love to sometimes get in the car and head out with no particular destination. We just drive until something catches our eye; often we say “I wonder where that road goes” and off we go to find out where it will lead us. Even when we […]
My granddaughter turned eight years old this month. In her eight years she has kept me laughing with her wisdom. One of the funniest memories is when she was four years old and was trying to get her Papa to make a decision about whether he would take her to one of her favorite places […]
It’s that time of year again. Now, more than ever, we need to pray for our schools….children and teachers. Grandma’s Ramblings It’s that time again! Off our children and grandchildren go to school. School used to be a pretty safe place to be. In my generation many of us walked to school and back and […]
Granted, I am concerned about Ebola becoming a serious issue for our country. I have no idea which side of the fence I should be on in this argument about banning travel and putting quarantines in place. I’ll leave that issue for those more qualified than I am. However, to describe our country’s situation as a […]
My small group at church is reading the Gospel of Luke this month. Taking it slow, not rushing through but looking carefully at the stories Luke tells. One thing I noticed as I read is how often Jesus took some quiet time away from the crowd. Three different times in the early chapters Luke tells […]
Tomorrow I will have an angiogram. After several weeks of chest pain, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue, my doctor did a stress test last week. The test indicates there may be some blockage in the lower part of my heart. Maybe – maybe not. So tomorrow I go in and if there is blockage […]
A few years ago my husband and I took our granddaughter to a park by the Mississippi River near our house to feed the ducks. Although she was only four years old she quickly realized we were only a few blocks from the John Deere Pavilion. She loves this place with all the many tractors […]
Being a new resident of Michigan my husband and I have spent the summer exploring many of the small towns on the western side of the lower peninsula. We have discovered some beautiful art galleries, unique antique stores and loved the beaches and lighthouses all along Michigan Lake. It has been interesting to me to […]
Years ago my father sometimes held revivals in small churches in southern Illinois. Many of the churches either had no piano player (this was before the era of drums and guitars in worship) or a very untalented player. Since he felt music was important for sharing the gospel, he came up with a solution. He […]
