Fun in the snow

December 29, 2023

For a farm family fun comes whenever you have the time. Most of our fun was done at home. We had a few minutes and we made use of it. First, it was the children, then the grandchildren. We loved to make snowmen. We rolled the biggest ball around the yard, then set it where we were going to build. Usually, it was mom and the kids who got involved with this. We had snowmen ready when Dad came up for lunch. We usually made our snowmen with three balls of snow. The snow had to be just the right consistency to roll and pack. Once we had the three balls set on top of each other we began to ...

He came, he saw, he ate everything

December 28, 2023

Walter’s Christmas was happy – and delicious. Walter is my granddog. I have loved him since our first meeting. My bachelor son, Bart, adopted the 8-week old puppy 8 years ago. They’ve been attached at the hip ever since. Bart and Walter, a white Labrador Retriever, live downtown in Annapolis, Maryland. The inlets of Chesapeake Bay, are the perfect splash playground for a water-loving retriever’s romps. During their morning and evening walks, Walter has acquired oodles of friends. Some locals refer to him as the 4-legged mayor of Annapolis – even the sentries at the Naval ...

U.S. forgets freedom of religion

December 23, 2023

It is troublesome to read Times Observer letters and columnists, and listen to ultra right media views that are based on the assumption that America is or should be a Christian theocracy. America’s house of worship has many and varied rooms similar to the many and various branches of my family tree. My Mother’s Father’s Landis family branch moved from Alsace-Lorraine to Zurich, Switzerland. They were Anabaptist who believed in adult baptism and strict obedience to the scriptures which often got them in trouble with the civil authority. Hans Landis, a preacher and leader of the ...

All is calm, bright

December 22, 2023

This whole farming business was new to me. We had gone together for a couple years so I knew what to expect. Dick’s parents went down to visit with her sisters and husbands on Christmas Eve. Chores had to be done early so that could happen. Sometimes my husband ended up finishing things up so his folks were not too late. They went to Diedra and Don Andersen’s for their celebration. Yes, this was the man I married more than fifty years later. When our children were small, we traveled to Dunkirk to be with my family. My grandparents always stayed home from church to babysit. One year ...

Christmas kindness has no expiration date

December 21, 2023

It’s been 18 years since we sent trail mix to Iraq. My son, Bart, was a Marine pilot. He flew the Cobra gunship, an attack helicopter that protected the Marines on the ground. A nasty machine. Having been gone for months, his squadron was deployed to Al Asad, Iraq during Christmas, 2005. His third deployment in three years. While making family Christmas at home, I was missing him terribly – even accepted that his seat at the Christmas dinner table would be empty. I couldn’t imagine listening to “White Christmas” while living in that hostile desert. And I was having trouble ...

View from Hickory Heights: Christmas Eve happenings

December 15, 2023

When I got to thinking about the Christmas Eve celebrations, I realized that I had varied experiences. When I was young, I remember one Christmas Eve at home. I prepared a little service complete with Christmas carols. My aunt and uncle came that evening to celebrate with us since they would be with my aunt’s family the next day. I was taking piano lessons and my teacher got me a book of easy carols to play. I felt so honored to be able to accompany the family as we sang that night. I remember that I picked out some Bible readings too. I asked others to read those. That Christmas my ...