My late husband, Marv Roelofs, became famous over our 55+ years of marriage for making bookshelves for me. His first wall-to-wall lives on in our first home, a now run-down townhouse in IL that my son found recently on a realtor site. Marv's last wall-to-wall, of course, lives on in his last home, my current …
Continue reading Bookcase Quilt: Tangible Memories of My Late Husband
Have books, will travel! Marv wanted our story told of his terminal lung cancer. So that's my focus this week. I wanted to hand it to siblings first and that meant a trip to Michigan (from South Dakota). I checked the airlines, but traveling with a few hundred books did not sound fun to me. …
It's rain-snowing as I write. Thirty-eight degrees. The kind of day to stay in your PJ's and sit by the fire. Never mind it's April in South Dakota. So what shall I do first on this fine Saturday? Since my books, Marv Taking Charge, arrived last week, I think I must deal with the personal …
Continue reading Belt Loops, Tennis Shoes, and “Marv Taking Charge”
"Are you saving this seat for your husband?" "Are you expecting someone?" "Who are you traveling with?" I was asked these questions often on my recent cruise. I would sit in various places on the ship to listen to the music being offered--classical piano, a string duo, or a guitarist playing songs from my era. …
I’m celebrating this birthday with a two-week Viking cruise in Central America. Apart from lots of history, this is what I have learned so far: 1. There are birds chirping and cawing in a public bathroom that I’ve used several times. I don’t know if they are in the ceiling or not. They may be …
Continue reading Growing Older : On Turning 81 or Birds in the Bathroom
I purged my closet of twenty-seven items. Does this “first line” grab your attention? Do you want to know more? Do you wonder if there’s a correlation between these two events? Is this something you even care to read about? The goal for first lines is to keep the reader reading. Read the first lines …
If you would like a reprieve from hiking on your vacation in AZ, consider a visit to this delightful Tea Room. Last week, I ate lunch there with my daughter-in-law and three neighbors. It was about an hour's ride through breathtaking desert/mountain scenery, including a section called the "boulders." Adobe homes are tucked out of …
I'm getting ready to say goodbye to my winter hideout in AZ; in a few weeks, I'll be heading home to SD. As this reality settled in last week, I snapped a bunch of pictures on my walk. I wanted to soak in the bright blue, red, and green colors. (Clearly, I'm on the edge …
"What are you trying to prove?" my friend asked in a text. I had just sent her a photo of me stuck in my closet. I'd been trying to put a new recliner together and had to get behind it. Since it was somewhat heavy, I shimmied myself behind it into the closet. To see …
“You’re coming up to a small town that has an historical marker,” Esther texted to me as Marv and I drove along I-10 in Texas. We were on our way to Arizona in January of 2017; Esther was grounded in Michigan during her chemo and radiation treatments for esophageal cancer. She did not despair that …
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