FS, me & G...

It's not all that unusual for him to call. He's never been obsessed with the phone, but since getting an iPad, he does FaceTime me now and then. So I was excited when my 6 year old grandson Graham called. He asked for my address. "I need it for a school project we're working on grandma. Something I will mail to you," was all he would say. Hmmm. Wonder what that's all about? Not my birthday and Mother's Day was still weeks away.

My son Adam and grandson, Graham. This picture-there are no words...

The Kleenex Box...

I've never tried to deceive you. Storyteller from a One-Stoplight-Town is my personal view of my life stories. The good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between. I'm into details about my stories. Dates, locations, surroundings, people involved. Feelings. I think I've succeeded in being honest. Brutally at times. Always used names of those involved. Except for the 4 dubious bosses I encountered while Parish Visitor. Ministers, all.

 

Looks innocent enough, right?

From my past...

In many ways, I have a love-hate relationship with the Internet and my smart-ass phone. I don't try to understand it. My mind just doesn't work that way. It's much too complicated. I think it's magic. Real clouds that store my stuff. I've looked up in the sky, but as of today have yet to easily spot Neese's safe, impenetrable cloud. Shouldn't my cloud hover over my head? Staying close in case quick retrieval is ever needed?

 

iPhone may be smarter than me, but lacks sarcasm...

Pork Rub...

This story started a couple weeks ago. Our 25 year old granddaughter Ariana called and asked if we would host a family picnic? She's in a serious relationship with this neat guy named Josh. (I know, what are the odds of having 2 Josh's in a rather small family?) Ari and her Josh will be making me a very young, hip great-grandma around New Year's, 2017. Josh's mom and Ari's mom, our daughter Shannon, have never met. Ari and Josh thought the perfect place might be our house for an informal meal of, "getting to know you, getting to know all about you!"

 

Josh & Ari, happy in 2016...

Thanks-a-lot...

It's been two years. Twenty-four months. Give or take a leap, over 730 days. I couldn't decide between 'Thanks-a-lot' or 'Blame them' for the title. Blame sounds like such a downer, thus I went with thanks. It's up to my readers to determine if I got that part right. Where to start, where to start? I guess she's either a heroine (or a culprit). Her name is Betty. So I'm gonna start with her.

 

My home town...

The Lakes...

I was born and raised in a small town in Iowa. It was about the best place in the world to grow up. We had freedom to ride bikes, go to the dump, play in the park, go swimming at the sandpit until Dr. Hegg convinced the townsfolk we needed a modern, cement swimming pool. Our stores downtown were all we ever really needed. Right. That lasted until we got close to our teens.

 

Rock Valley Park with our spiffy swimming pool in the background about 1960...

The Secret...

I'm guilty of not giving Mom a fair shake at times. Until I was 10 or 12, I thought the sun rose and set on her. To be fair, her life was not easy from the get-go. She and her twin brother Floyd lost their mom when they were 2 weeks old. Although they had 2 sets of doting grandparents who raised and adored them, Mom always felt her dad blamed her and Floyd for their mother's death. Her dad left the child rearing to his parents and in-laws. And never was a very involved father. She learned rejection at a very young age.

 

Maternal grandma Berghuis with Florence and Floyd, 1927...