I have been using the plant identification app PictureThis since 2020. It’s great when I can’t remember what I planted in that corner of the garden, or I’m on a garden walk and want to identify something I might want to purchase later. I know that Google lens is pretty accurate, but I appreciate some […]
Before we even had our own record player, Aimee and I were Monkees fans. I remember my mom going into the utility room one day and coming out with one of her old records, More of the Monkees. We brought it to our friend Kelly’s house and used to play it every day, acting out […]
My first camera was a 126 pocket camera, probably Kodak, that took square photos. I think my mom passed it to me when she got her first 35mm camera, but by the mid-80s I was using her camera. I’m not sure which I used to take photos on this particular camping trip in 1987. This […]
I have collected embroidery for many decades. I remember shopping for vintage embroidered pillow cases with my mom, and I even tried embroidering my own with cross-stitch once. I do still have some embroidered linens, but my preference is for embroidered wall art. Since I was writing this post I moved a cross-stitch made by […]
Tonight Jim and I were able to attend an event with musician Neko Case for her memoir, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You. Neko is one of our favorite musicians. I saw her perform starting in the late 90s, memorably outside of Schuba’s where I first heard her cover of Neil Young’s […]
I am now vintage. My 50th and 51st years have been some of the best of my life. I have been able to travel and see friends and family, and plan to continue that this year. I spent a wonderful May weekend in Lake Geneva with Aimee, Amy and Kathy shopping, eating and talking, and […]
As we visited Aunt Fran in the time of her final illness, she wanted to pass on some items to us that had meaning for her or that we might enjoy. She gave me this cast iron skillet which had been her mother’s, my grandma Mildred. I have used it a few times but am […]
I meet with my boss every Friday morning and we often talk about wool sweaters: finding them second-hand, deciding if we can wear as is or use for a project, felting, and combining into new “Franken-sweaters” (her term). We talk about wool at least half as much as we talk about project management! Her latest […]
Jim has been using his time before sleep to listen to audiobooks in the last year. Usually this took place after we had watched some random bits of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation on Pluto TV and I had “signed off” for the night. But recently he suggested that we re-allocate the […]
Our Grandma Benoit was born Edith Maude Giasson on November 2, 1914 near Aroma Park, Illinois. Her father Frank was of French-Canadien ancestry, like her future husband, and her mother, Josephine Posing, was of Luxemburger ancestry. She had three older sisters—Hazel, Millie and Irene—and two younger brothers, Franklin and George.