Author: Life Without Lesson Plans

On a trip to Florida in 2017, my husband Richard and I were invited to sit at a table with two strangers at a crowded Denny’s in St. Augustine.  One of the women, a C.P.A., a U.S. veteran, AND a commercial pilot, had recently received her U.S. citizenship after 18 years of patiently waiting out… Continue reading TAKE A FORM, FILL IT OUT, GET IN LINE, REPEAT →

My dad, who was always athletic and even was named “The Wellest Man in Wellsburg over the Age of Seventy” back in the 1990s, tried to get me to go golfing with him for years.  He hadn’t started to golf until he was about to retire from the electric company, and he regretted not taking… Continue reading GOLF: Supposedly NOT a Contact Sport →

I recently interviewed Beth Mason, one of my golfing friends, for the “Snapshot” column I write each month for Life in Chenal magazine, and boy did I get a shock!  I’ve interviewed many of my other friends as well, and I always learn so much about them that I never knew.  One of my friends… Continue reading Beth Mason, Super Saleswoman and Super Survivor →

I've been writing articles for a local magazine since January 2016. My monthly column is called "Snapshot," and I write about someone who lives in or has ties to our large subdivision.  I often write a feature on a local business, and this year I've also written about a local chef each month. From April… Continue reading Not Exactly “Dear Abby” →

For the past three+ years I have been writing for Life in Chenal, a monthly magazine with a circulation of over 6,000 copies, which is distributed to all of the homes in our subdivision and hundreds of local businesses. One of my columns, titled “Snapshot,” is always about a Chenal resident. A little over two… Continue reading Hidden No Longer! →

Seeing George W. Bush slip Michelle Obama what appeared to be a piece of candy at John McCain’s funeral recently reminded me of something that happened to me and some college mates in 1967.  That fall, over the Veterans’ Day weekend, my college theatre sponsored a bus trip to New York City.  I had managed… Continue reading Of Candy and Culture →

Sometimes we think that crazy only happens to us.  Ha!  My friend Denise woke up one February morning, and eventually wished she’d never gotten out of bed.  But she did get up, feeling only so-so.  The night before she’d spent time with her husband in their new hot tub, even though the snow was flying. … Continue reading Denise’s No-Good, Really Dreadful, Some-Kind-of-Awful Morning →

My favorite food in the whole world (well, in my world) is pumpkin pie.  I like lobster, steak, shrimp, a really good hamburger, German chocolate cake, and black raspberry pie, but if I could only have one thing to eat for the rest of my life, it would be pumpkin pie.  I can’t imagine ever… Continue reading Pie to Cry For →

     Wednesday, September 27, 2017. London/Amsterdam. Waiting. We got to London around 8:00 a.m. Our flight to Amsterdam was at 2:40 p.m. As long as I have a well-charged tablet with its little bluetooth keyboard for typing journal entries or playing solitaire while listening to a book on tape on my MP3 player, I'm… Continue reading September 27, Europe Journal →

September 26, 2017, Chicago O'Hare Runway. Uber driver, Uber Robert (recommended by friend Beth Mason) picked us up this morning at 5:00 a.m. Ugh! But we did have an uneventful trip to the Little Rock airport, where I was anxious to weigh my luggage. Last year for the Scotland/England trip my suitcase weighed an all-time… Continue reading September 26, 2017, Europe Journal →