Monthly Archives: February 2011

Baseball, Earlobes and Running Backward

Chapter 1. In 2008, a Cubs road game scheduled for Houston got rescheduled in Milwaukee due to Hurricane Ike pounding the Texas coast.  Therefore on a beautiful early fall afternoon, Nick and I spontaneously decided to breeze up to Brewer’s … Continue reading

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A Whiter Shade of Pale

As I sort through the various missed opportunities and regrets in my life, I keep coming back to two things; the time that I absolutely blew my college interview at Stanford (when asked to describe “who I was” to some … Continue reading

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Hail to Thee Fat Person!

Allan Sherman, of Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh fame, enjoyed an intense but brief popularity, releasing three albums in 1963 and then a rapid decline and premature death at age 49.  But it is still easy to identify an Allan Sherman … Continue reading

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The Warm Spot in the Lake

I am a Midwestern girl who spent her vacations fearfully swimming in the fresh water lakes of the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Bobbing in a boat offshore, the surface water was a rich dark blue, but beneath the color quickly … Continue reading

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In the Fold with My Peeps

My interest in knitting starting innocently enough some 30 years ago when we were visiting Ireland.  The island was awash in American tourists whose first order of business was the purchase of a hand knit Irish sweater which was then … Continue reading

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Susan Boyle

The first image of Susan Boyle was a frowzy older women quietly sitting eating a sandwich in a room teeming with hopefuls waiting to perform on the British TV reality show, “Britain’s Got Talent.”  She came forward for a quick … Continue reading

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My Brother Charlie

My parents were married in 1950 and three and a half years later they had three children, my older brother Ralph, me, and my younger brother Charlie.  When Charlie was around two years old he developed a very high fever … Continue reading

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My Life in Song

I have inherited many gifts from my father, both genetically and by example – reasonable looks (except for my fleshly earlobes), brown hair that just refuses to go grey, kindness, loyalty and commitment to family.  But among my siblings, there … Continue reading

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When Jesus Walks

Sunday our carillon bell choir was scheduled to play during the prelude and the offertory.  The prelude is a snap, since this is when the congregation is filing in, and the noise drowns out any mistakes that might be made.  … Continue reading

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A Wedding and A Funeral

I have been mistaken for an accomplished musician two times now, with predictably disastrous results.  It is perhaps understandable since I became the family custodian of my mother’s two octave set of brass carillon bells, which she used in her … Continue reading

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