View from Hickory Heights: Thrill of the first job

November 29, 2024

I do not know about you, but I remember when I got my first job vividly. The day after I turned sixteen, I went downtown to apply for a job for Christmas. Mind you, my birthday is in September, but I did not want to miss the opportunity. I went to Sidey’s department store. I went to the office and asked for an application. This was a family-owned store with all members of the family in residence there at one time or another. The girl at the desk handed me an application to be filled out. I went off to the side and filled it out. I was then asked to wait while a member of the family ...

Don’t mess with traditions

November 27, 2024

Editor’s note: This column was written at Thanksgiving 2006. Thanksgiving weekend, for me, is the first gift of the holiday season. Now that the arrival of a grandchild has changed the family Christmas venue to Boston, Thanksgiving is at our house. It’s a much easier deal. I find myself, however, not wanting to let go of all of our Christmas traditions – or the feelings that go with them. While my daughter, Alix, and her family are at the beginning stages of creating their own traditions, we are keeping a condensed version here. One just can’t throw out forty years of ...

Trump capitalized on U.S. frustrations

November 23, 2024

I grew up in the 1950s, north of gritty Youngstown, Ohio, close enough to see the nighttime red sky from the open hearth steel making furnaces. Many of my classmates’ parents spoke broken English. The ‘50s were boom years. America was the sole industrial nation standing after World War II. Jobs were plentiful. Our governments invested heavily in our infrastructure. Americans had a pent up demand and cash for consumer goods. It was a wonderfully, simple time in which to live BUT not for all. For women, not totally, for blacks, definitely not and the LGBTQ weren’t visible.. I ...

Blessings this holiday

November 22, 2024

Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving. At this point I have no plans but it will all come together. How Thanksgiving has changed down through the years. We used to go to Grandma Swanson’s but when she no longer could do it, we went to my sister-in-law’s. I always worked right up through Wednesday, so I had little time to prepare. One year we had a Peterson reunion. That year I had Dick’s cousin, his wife, and two children at my house. I made pies. Of course, I used lard for the crust. Laurie wondered how I got it so flaky. I hesitated to tell her it was the lard. I even made ...

Retirement days are supposed to be easy

November 21, 2024

Last week’s column was about a nice day. A really lucky day. Then life happened. Back in my middle years, I made a promise to myself. If I’m going to work throughout my life, then I’m going to make sure I play a little in my retirement. My original plans were for some tennis, lottsa reading, and some bridge playing. Tennis was the earliest casualty, the victim of rampant arthritis and three replaced knees. OK – so now I’m an armchair devotee of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. With a glass of iced coffee in hand. Retirement reading means the luxury of daytime reading – ...

Anti-abortion issue must address dads

November 16, 2024

Votes have been cast. Votes have been counted. Seems the election was fairer this year. Less griping. Perhaps someone will figure out why. Abortion was on the ballot in 10 states. Currently abortion is banned after conception in 13 states, banned after six weeks in four more states, and banned after 12 to 18 weeks in another five. This year measures supporting abortion rights were passed in seven of those 10 states. Yet the results of the election also showed support for legislators who would push an anti-abortion agenda. And support for legislators who would appoint judges and ...