Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Finding Salkum - good news

One Sunday afternoon in early January the phone rang. it was bitter cold and sleeting outside so we were all in the house. Sam was reading the paper in the kitchen, Ethel was putting the finishing touches on the dining room table after dinner. Rose and Jimmy were playing upstairs, and I had Ethel’s... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Finding Salkum - Part 8

I gained weight at the farm: muscle. I went through a growth spurt of three or four inches. Rose also got taller, stronger and more confident. When we first started working with the cows at milking time, she was scared of them. She’d watch while the “girls” ambled their way to their appointed... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, August 8, 2016

Finding Salkum Part 7 - Farm Life

The barn in the center was about twenty feet high, and the top of the “A” was almost as wide as the farmhouse. It held a huge hay storage area, interior plank walls with one-inch gaps for air circulation stood about ten feet high, but the hay was piled all the way to the top of the barn at harvest... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Finding Salkum - Part 6 -- After we kissed Mama goodbye...

Ethel rang the bell on the porch before we could complete our tour. It was time for us to kiss Mama goodbye. The hugs and waves as Mama backed Susie out onto the road and pulled away were as I think back on it a bit of stagecraft. We’d already said our farewells, promised Mama we’d be on our best... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Perhaps it's Scots in origin...

Since I watch some daytime television, most often the soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” I’m bound to hear commercials for Pampers, Cheerios, Zulilly, Gerber’s, various feminine protection items, and such other products and services that appeal to housewives with children. Not many drinks recommended... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, August 5, 2016

It's on fire, but they won't get out of the house.

That was the dream. I'm sure it means something deeply disturbing and psychological, but it was a different house, multi-storied, many rooms, tree growing right out of a no- longer-used chimney. The people were different, familiar as relatives are, as fractious and uncooperative and downright... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Stuff Happens

I decided to primp it up a bit as I got ready for The Center on Tuesday. I was scheduled to work the front desk from nine to noon, but went in half an hour early. Sometimes when I arrive at nine the stuff has already hit the fan, and then I spend a couple hours trying to catch up. First Tuesday of... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Finding Salkum - Part 5

What choice did we have? She could die. What would happen to us then? Where would we go, to an orphanage somewhere? Mama didn’t want us to live with her family. I was sick with fear that she’d be gone and it would be up to me to see to the little kids. I damned my father for not being there, not... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Follow-up on the trapper next door.

It's a small world after all. And I'm not talking about the Disney version. A couple weeks ago I reported here that the old guy next door had set out a trap to catch the squirrels that were raiding his vegetable garden. I would have had no problem with that if he had taken the varmints out to the... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Anxiety

As a writer there are times when nothing comes to mind. Fingers hover over a keyboard but the screen remains blank. I can't come up with an idea, a story, a character that merits a reader. And then something happens to trigger an idea. There's an iconic photo in a magazine, a spectacular documentary... Sign in to see full entry.

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