My Portfolio

Have you ever been proud as a peacock?

I have to say it is a fact Most folks are mighty queer Especially as regards those things That fill us full of fear   I’ve done a thing or two in life You might regard as tough, Like childbirth minus any drugs Admittedly, ‘twas rough.   My knees both shook...

Legacy Story Prompt: Describe a life-threatening close call that happened to you. Are you familiar with the cartoonist Gary Larsen? He made one superlatively funny cartoon in which two deer are standing in a forest, one bearing the image of a target/bull’s-eye prominently affixed to his body. The other deer says,...

Am I the only one who's ever inhabited animal bodies?

Although I have some "whale of a story" stories, I'm tempted to limit my comments on this subject - most of my miracle stories are intensely personal. I can't help but comment on the topic, however, as I have strong views on the subject. Many years ago I came across a...

Sometimes unexpected joys come to us that are so far from being anticipated that they completely blindside us. I suspect God might specialize in using our children to bless us in this manner. During our son Daniel's growing up years I frequently put on my best (admittedly awful) British accent by...

As usual, I’m about a month behind. The story prompt for November 11 had to do with holiday traditions, and here I am sitting down to write about this on December 20 th .... Maybe you can relate. There’s a door in the back of my mind behind which lurks an...

Although we never lived near the rest of our family, my mother always made an effort to connect with them durig the holiday season - which was a great thing, since my grandmother was the best cook in the entire universe. (Go ahead; put up your dukes. I stand by my...

Mandane and her siblings Poor health seemed to plague my great-grandmother's family, the Dicks of Greenland Farm, Darby Township, Pickaway County, Ohio. My great-grandmother Mandane and her younger sister Blanche, for example, were married in a double wedding ceremony on October 19, 1892. Less than a year later, Blanche was dead!...

My recollections of the years I spent being a hospital nurse jumble together in a very mixed bag of memories, some wonderful and others hideous. Being a tenderhearted sort of person, I always found it difficult to divorce my emotions from my work. If my patient was suffering, then so was...

I envy those people who have always known what they wanted to do when they grew up. The only occupations I remember feeling passionate about as a youth centered around horses and ballet - not too promising for a city-dweller with two left feet. Reading was always my favorite pastime, so...

  My great-great grandmother Susan Barton Lutz was born in 1838, the year Queen Victoria was crowned Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Ladies wore their hair in ringlets while indoors and covered with lavishly trimmed bonnets when outdoors. Dresses were designed with sloping shoulders, full sleeves and full skirts often...

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Last week’s story prompt was something along the lines of “What proud accomplishment did you share together with a friend, colleague or family member.” I had to think a long time about that question, but finally I figured out the answer. It’s been...

    My grandfather Loy was born September 16, 1884, the same year as future President Harry S. Truman and "modern" Italian artist Modigliani came along. It was the year Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn , a well-loved and hilarious American classic now under fire due to our national romance with...

My father was born February 8, 1913, the same year as future President Richard M. Nixon, French philosopher Albert Camus and English composer Benjamin Britten. Abolitionist Harriet Tubman died that year. Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated President of the United States. War was raging in the Balkans, and in the exotic, far-away...

Our story prompt this week is "What does a true friend mean to you, who fits that description and why?" This assignment is a lot to chew on! It isn't as easy a topic as might appear at first blush, so I decided to start by looking up the word "friend"...