Recipe Boxes

3 Commentscrafts, food, history, holidays, lifestyle, memoir, , , ,

Something came up today that made me think about recipe boxes. You know those heirloom collections of handwritten recipes on index cards? I didn’t inherit my grandmother’s cooking skills, but I did wind up with her recipe boxes. And I’m fairly sure that at least a few of the recipes go back to my great

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And the Ashfall Fossil Beds…

4 Commentshiking, history, Science, travel,

Somewhere in the northern part of Nebraska… nestled between grass-covered hills… is a prehistoric watering hole where animals caught in a super volcano were fossilized.  The site is far enough away from the volcano, itself that death wasn’t instant. They died over the course of weeks after the eruption. This is a working dig site,

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Longaberger Baskets And Absolutely No Other Antiques

4 Commentshistory, lifestyle

Not so long ago, a friend of the family showed up for a few days, and started talking about Longaberger baskets.  Now, to be sure, I had gone a full long time without having the foggiest idea what a Longaberger basket was, or–actually having any interest in baskets of any kind. These would be the

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Small Business Growing!

food, history

There are two old-school bakeries worth mentioning near me. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some really snazzy new places (most of them come and go) and if you want your wedding cake to look like a major sculptural extravaganza, we can certainly arrange that. I’m pretty sure some of them have sharks with

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The Answer is Tourism. Always Tourism.

1 Commenthistory, lifestyle, memoir, , ,

I live in a historic town. You can tell by the road signs and billboards, and by the fact that here and there, you have a building that is more than a hundred fifty years old. It’s not a particularly exciting history. And honestly, it’s not that much different than the history that the other

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A-to-Z Challenge: Norma Miller

3 Commentshistory, Uncategorized, , ,

Norma Miller is a dancer. Lindy Hop way back in the early thirties at the Savoy ballroom in Harlem. She’s a classic, and a little bit of everything else. The woman dances, writes (songs and books), directs films, and acts (film and stage.) As you might be able to tell, I’m an actual fan. I’d

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A-to-Z Challenge: Ethniko Apelfterotiko Metopo

1 CommentBlogging, history,

There’s some enthusiastic transliteration, there, since I’m starting with something Greek, but more or less, it fits the M-theme for this fabulous alphabetical challenge. So, in translation–via the internet and one seriously old school dictionary–those nifty words add up to “National Liberation Front”.  (Lucky the Greeks speak Greek, or they wouldn’t fit this challenge at

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Diplomacy Is My Bag, Baby…

history, Uncategorized, ,

I have been maintaining a positive relationship with my co-workers, lately…. by which, what I mean is, keeping my mouth shut. Damn, that’s tough! And–since apparently, I have a very expressive face–going through all kinds of social gymnastics to keep from looking at them when certain topics come up. And under no circumstances whatsoever am

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The Historical Road Trip of Your Dreams: Nicodemus, Kansas

history, Uncategorized, ,

Today, I found myself in Kansas. Again. No, I don’t know how that keeps happening. It was a good drive. Lots of pretty countryside, and long, elegant roads cutting through the limestone hills. Sunlight–which is probably the big thing that lures me over the border–because, after all, Kansas is south, and south is usually just

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