More than a toy

June 6, 2025

Recently I have seen a lot of posts about paper dolls. I have not seen any that I had as a youngster. My favorite set was a set of twins. They came in a cardboard case so I could carry them around. They were probably about two or three years old as their clothes indicated. More than half the fun with paper dolls is when you got to cut out their clothes. There were always tabs that fit over the shoulder to hold them on. I was an only child so I played alone a lot. Paper dolls were some of my favorite things to play with. On nice days when it was not windy, I often took them out to the ...

Delights of the old stomping grounds

June 5, 2025

This New England trip has definitely been adventuresome, eye opening, and fun. I’m writing from Lexington, Mass., home of the Minute Man, home of “the shot heard around the world,” home of my daughter and her family. My itinerary was packed: My grandson’s birthday dinner and his Spring Concert with a Boston area youth symphony. An afternoon visit with old friends and a weekend trip to Maine with really old friends. Our day trip to decorate the family graves along with a traditional stop for seafood at Plymouth harbor. An adventure-packed flick in a fancy cinema plus some ...

View from Hickory Heights: Two-wheel riding

May 30, 2025

Do you remember learning to ride a bicycle? When I was about eight years old, I got a bicycle for Christmas. Since we lived where we had snow, it sat in the garage until Spring. I was not a natural at riding a bike. It took days for me to learn the balancing technique. My mother and my grandfather took turns holding me steady and running along. I had no training wheels. Finally, one night I took off on my own. I did not realize I was on my own until I got way down the street. I was on the sidewalk by the way. My only problem was I did not know how to stop. I ended up in someone’s ...

Another Memorial Day remembrance

May 29, 2025

Memorial Day was always a special day for me, even as a child. It was a particularly important day of remembrance for my mother. Every year, she made sure we wore the commemorative red poppies to honor her youngest brother, the family hero. Kenneth Arthur MacMillan was the youngest of four children. When their mother dies, my mother, Alberta, was 6 and the siblings were 4, 2 and baby Kenny was 14 months. He never knew his mother who spent the last months of her life in a tuberculosis sanitorium. Alberta remembered the four children gathering below their mummy’s window to wave and ...

View from Hickory Heights:

May 23, 2025

Last week I reminded my grandson to take God with him to his exam. I always said a prayer before an exam. Usually, I asked God to help me remember what I studied. I did not go into an exam without the work. I knew that he worked hard. He was proud of his average with all “A”s. This professor was tough. In his mind she was very smart but not a great teacher. In my day that last week of school we only went to school on the days that we had an exam scheduled. Of course, I lived in town and could walk to school. Regents were scheduled the week after regular exams. I did my praying on ...

The big dream of exercise machines

May 22, 2025

Dream was the word I associated with exercise machines in the old days. Not the dream of ownership, but the dream of possibility. The machine promised the ultimate transformation. I was going to become the new me. Now, at my advanced age with dashed dreams, I am giving up. I decided that this old me will not be owning a new-me machine. Ever again. Although I can’t say I didn’t try. In my late 40s, I decided that I was starting to slip. A few pounds a year had crept on and I wasn’t liking the side view in the full-length mirror. What to do? I went to Weight Watchers – for ...