• Literary Pursuits

    Writing

    You know how I’ve said for awhile that someday I’m going to write a book? Within the last couple of years I have set some specific goals for myself in that regard, and I am very excited with the progress I’m making. It may not seem like much, but the baby steps are better than just wondering if I ever…

  • Adventures

    Ozark Back Roads

     Tuesday afternoon’s route took us winding through the Ozarks from Arkansas into Missouri. It was a gorgeous afternoon, sunny and warm like we never see in Idaho in March. We opened the sun roof and enjoyed the fresh spring air and the rolling hills. (We can’t bring ourselves to actually call the Ozarks mountains.)  Wednesday morning was cooler and overcast,…

  • Homeschooling

    Families Writing

    My mother saved a few of my school papers, as all mothers do, I suppose. It’s interesting to see my little-girl handwriting, but to be perfectly honest, spelling lists and mimeographed worksheets are kind of boring to look it. My mother also saved letters. Boxes and boxes of letters. Now those are fascinating to me. They give a glimpse into relationships and…

  • Adventures

    There and Back Again

    And so I guess you’re probably waiting to hear how my trip home was, aren’t you? After my oh-so-colorful experience of taking the Greyhound bus to Seattle (and then on to Tacoma) on Thursday, I can’t say I was especially looking forward to repeating the experience on Sunday. I was to catch the bus at 8:00 a.m. in Tacoma and…

  • Literary Pursuits

    Writer’s Conference

    All my life I’ve had an inclination to write. Before I could even read I would sit at the kitchen table asking my mother to spell the words for me so I could write letters to my grandmother. When I finally learned to read and spell I expanded my correspondence to include several pen pals during the course of my…

  • Adventures

    The Wheels on the Bus

    Even though I am quite well-traveled, I had never taken a bus trip before. You see, Lyle had traveled across the country to college, from California to Indiana, back in the 1980s and he said it wouldn’t be safe for a woman to travel that way for a long distance. He’s always been willing to drive me anywhere I have…

  • Heritage

    Grandmother’s Letters

    For the past year or so I have been sorting and archiving my Grandmother’s “papers.” She was a prolific letter writer, and she kept most of the letters she received over the years. (My mother has done the same, so I have two generations worth of letters going back to the 1930s!) Grandmother had 10 children, and as far as…

  • Literary Pursuits

    NaNoWriMo

    All my life I’ve dreamed of writing a novel. Not because I have this burning story that just begs to be told. I don’t. But mainly because I have read so many mediocre novels that someone somewhere thought worthy of publishing, and I think, “I could write a better story than that.” That, plus my mother fully believes that someday…

  • Literary Pursuits

    A Lost Art

    I think I’ll do something way retro this weekend… I received some cute monogrammed note cards recently as a gift, and they are such lovely fall colors that I’m tempted to jot off some handwritten notes to a few friends. Or would that just be terribly old-fashioned of me? Seriously, I love to get letters and little gifts in the…

  • Literary Pursuits

    Welcome to my blog!

    Hello! Welcome to my “blog” site. I tried this once about a year ago, but wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go with it. After all, I have a regular website… but finally I’ve decided that I would like to have a quick and easy place to go to quickly jot down some of my ideas and thoughts as…