I hope you will consider how the gifts you choose for grandchildren, nieces, and nephews build relationships and generate storytelling, sharing, and yes, even learning. Updated for 2017 Originally posted October 22nd, 2015 Disclosure: Gabrielle Polt Balkan, author of The 50 States is my step-daughter. Other than parental pride per the atlas, and the Amazon […]
When Christmas is Sad
My Take on Holiday Sadness A huge hurt builds inside me. My father died on Christmas Day 1986. It is a familiar, old hurt. This past year freshly layered that hurt with new hurts and loss. All four of my brothers have passed on. One in 1998, another in 2005. Mom died in […]
December Already
How can it be December already? It was carved pumpkins, then pumpkin pie, and now we are readying for Christmas trees, dreidels, and multi-color candles. December brings one of my favorite memories with it. When my daughter was little, no more than four, and attending nursery school, songs of the season were a big deal […]
Capture Legacy Stories This Holiday Season
The Holiday Season is Here I write this, reworking a post from two years ago, just before Thanksgiving. We are in the weekend for preparation before what we affectionately call Turkey Day in the U.S. I do not want to add to anyone’s stress levels, but beyond setting up your tech to record the Macy’s […]
Saved Seeds and Grandma's Egg Noodles
My grandmother saved seeds; my grand-daughters are served non-GMO food whenever possible. This one sentence, personal vignette is a story of five generations of women. It involves changes in farming, from truck gardens to agribusiness. It is a reflection of how women procure food for their families. Hints, implications, context, and reference are implicit nuance, […]
COLUMBUS, CHICKEN DNA AND MY DAD
The first version of this article was written and published on another of my blogs in 2013. 1915. The year seems worlds away from today. My Dad was born in a small farmhouse outside the burg of Colburn, Indiana on October 14, 1915 to Dorothy and Ellis, a young married couple. He was the first […]