Columns

The Good And Bad Of Trees

I was fortunate enough to spend my formative years in a neighborhood where maple, oak and pine trees lined the street. Those trees provided the necessary shade in the summer in a house without air conditioning. Their branches also offered a secondary entrance to a second floor window when certain siblings were late getting home at night. In the fall, those trees would gift us piles and piles of leaves in which we would play after raking them, of course. Wintertime saw the trees dusted or heavy with snow, making the street resemble a beautiful Christmas card. As a girl with seven ...

A Quarter For Your Thoughts

No one knew the value of a quarter more than my father. I know because that was the amount of coinage he offered me when I asked for milk money before heading to school or out for a night at the skating rink. Although our mother packed us sack lunches, there was always the need to buy a notebook or new pencils. All I knew is that whatever the need, it better not cost more than 25 cents or I would have to save up to make the purchase. Later when I worked in the same newspaper office with my father, the late Harry C. Hamm, I was tasked with getting him lunch each day. The quarter he used ...

The Quilts

I’m not a great seamstress, but I get by. I can stitch together a few things or hem a skirt or trousers. I made some homey curtains for the kitchen window a while back. The fabric is printed with farm tractors and roosters and I thought it would fit nicely in our rural homestead. Yet I am humbled each time I visit my sister-in-law Carolyn’s home. She is married to my husband’s brother Danny. And she is very talented when it comes to sewing. Her specialty is quilts. She creates intricate, colorful patterns and whips them together on some fancy quilting machines. The end ...

Memorial Day Meanderings

If you ask most school-aged children why we observe Memorial Day, they probably will not have an answer or at least not the correct answer. To many, Memorial Day Monday represents a federal holiday off work and school. The holiday also has expanded to include the entire weekend. It usually heralds the unofficial start of summer. Picnic tables are cleaned off. Coolers are pulled from the garage or basement. Picnics are planned in parks and backyards. Grills are heated up once again. Swimming pools are filled and awaiting visitors no matter how warm or chilly this day in the fickle ...

Open the Windows

Did you know that the birds surrounding the wooded areas of our rural home start singing to one another at 4:24 a.m. I know this for a fact because we have turned the corner on welcoming spring through open windows. I don’t know about you, but I am enjoying these pre-summer days and nights with the windows unsealed from their winter positions. The spring ritual of washing windows and installing screens is the ultimate way to kick winter to the curb. The benefits of this brief time between fickle spring temperatures and summer’s steamy climate are immediate. A slight ...

Cake Stands Are Sweet for Spring

Springtime just naturally makes me think of cake stands! With Mother’s Day, graduations, confirmations, First Communions, birthdays and anniversaries, a beautiful vintage cake stand or two comes in handy. Vintage and antique enthusiasts have long appreciated the presentation appeal of a fancy cake on a lovely glass stand. My own personal favorite is an Imperial Glass creamy blue pedestal cake stand, passed down from my mother. The Bellaire, Ohio glass manufacturer is famous for its milk glass and this one is done in a lovely shade of robin egg blue. It serves cakes with ...