Collecting My Thoughts

What life lessons did your parents teach you? We had a question like that in a group exercise at the women's club this week. I wrote a b...

One of the Thursday Thirteen I wrote this week was the percentage of European heritage among American blacks.  The assumption I’d had (or r...

        Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the ...

Stop setting goals was the best advice book I’ve  ever read—which I didn’t find until I retired.  “Setting goals” is a creativity and thoug...

How many of these have you visited? The big ones everyone knows. . . 1. St. Louis 2. St. Augustine 3. San Francisco 4. San...

Sit up in your chair and visualize a golden thread running from your crown to the ceiling. Also good for depression. Take the stairs inst...

1.  First the best one—eat more dark chocolate .  “ The cacao bean, from which chocolate is made, is  complex, containing more than 400 ch...

Our Christmas card for 2013 was a painting by my husband of Colorado in the snow.  His card paintings are always so lovely, some people col...

1.  A terrific dinner for the family at our daughter’s home and many seasonal parties and concerts (see last week’s blog). 2.  Several gift ...

Christmas  these days seems to begin around Halloween when Christmas themed merchandise appears in the stores, although for some retailers...

I have an odd hobby—since the 1960s I’ve been collecting first issues of magazines (aka journals, periodicals, serials).  I have given it up...

Thirteen Things about NORMA'S Prayer Job Jar—a rerun from a TT seven years ago 1.  The jar is real, physical, clear glass and has a lid....

Today we’re having new carpet installed in my home office and the stairs to the upper level and the lower level and the upstairs hall (same ...

                     1.  Don’t attack your host. Think of your visit as standing in the hall or on the porch and you’re passing out politica...

We have a summer home in Lakeside, Ohio--a Chautauqua community estblished as a Methodist campground in 1873 with educational and cultural ...

13 things about my grandmothers that make them different than today’s grandmothers We are at Lakeside on Lake Erie, a summer Chautauqua co...

1. Buttons on my jeans and slacks don't seem to stay where they should. The thread weakens and they fall off. Do you suppose it's t...

Have you ever seen the book "14,000 things to be happy about" by Barbara Ann Kipfer ? I picked up a copy years ago at a used book ...