My sister Ann and I are born bookworms. If it were allowed, we would move into the library – any library – and just live there, eating books. One of the things we really love about our annual Ohio pilgrimages is that our ancestry research takes us into two beautiful old Carnegie libraries – in … read more Day 33: Bookworm feast
Tag: Ohio
Day 32: Ticket to ride
I used to think that Cedar Point was a made-up name for the amusement park, and a strange one at that. Really, it doesn’t sound like it would be fun, the way that “Disneyland” did. No: Cedar Point was simply the name of a place, long before it was a company and a destination for … read more Day 32: Ticket to ride
Day 31: Oldest of friends
Today was another first: I got to play Trivial Pursuit with two people who have known me for more than 40 years. I lost. But what a fun way to lose. One of the two was my oldest sister, Ann, who is among the very select group of people who can say she has known … read more Day 31: Oldest of friends
Day 30: If I live to be 97
The phrase has been running daily in my head for the past month: “If I live to be 100…” Until recently it was simply a hyperbolic expression of the impossible, along the lines of “If I had a nickel for every time that…” It didn’t seem that living to be 100 could be possible. Or … read more Day 30: If I live to be 97
Day 29: A gathering in court
One Friday morning in March, a group of 20 men appeared before a judge in the Huron County courtroom. They were foreigners, part of a recent wave of immigrants who had rushed in seeking steady work and the possibility of a buying their own land and home. A new president had just been inaugurated, promising … read more Day 29: A gathering in court
Day 28: Class of ’77
We called ourselves The Crew, by virtue of one of those stories that were very funny in high school but which would take far too long to tell in a blog post and wouldn’t be funny to anyone but us, anyhow. I’m not even sure how the six of us became friends: Barb, Bill, John, … read more Day 28: Class of ’77
Day 27: Uncle Ray and the gang
I don’t know what the collective noun for cousins is, but on the Schnellinger side it should be “a riot of cousins.” Eight brothers and sisters, born of my grandma Alma Schnellinger, had a total of 32 kids – and that despite the fact that two of the eight became nuns. The rest were typical … read more Day 27: Uncle Ray and the gang
Day 26: All is forgiven
The hardest part of moving from Ohio to Seattle was leaving behind all my friends. I flew back there to visit once in the first year, but after that my parents had moved to Arizona and my sisters were scattered in three different locations. There was nothing pulling me back. I was newly married, a … read more Day 26: All is forgiven