moonShine Musings Blog
I wanted to let everyone know about a new literary blog being written by my friend Claire:  moonShine MusingsClaire is a terrific writer and poet, and has been published a number of times.  The name of the blog comes from the moonShine review, in which she's been published, and the Spring 2010 edition of which she's been asked to help edit.

Spicerack Thanksgiving 2009
We had a super busy weekend.  Friday night was my old (and I do mean OLD) friend Lee Wilson's 50th birthday party.  I can't believe it.  The first one of my friends that I consider part of my generation turned fifty.  Anyway, get-togethers at Lee & Emily's are always fun, and I always see people there that I enjoy catching up with.  This time was no exception.Saturday and Sunday we did some yard work and some old-house work.  Scott finished re-running a line of ductwork to the front bedroom (which we're trying NOT to keep calling "

Supper Club - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
If you live in Greensboro, I highly recommend that you not let this week get entirely away from you without taking advantage of Triad Restaurant Week at Lucky 32, where our small group of six went last night.  It was a dreary night (would have been lovely to curl up by the fire with a book instead), but we was enticed out by the $20 fixed-pri

The "Frozen Freddy" That Was Neither
Every year, two weekends before Thanksgiving, we go on our fall camping trip known as "Frozen Freddy" up at Hanging Rock State Park.  Well, I say every year, but for some reason Scott & I had to miss it last year.  Anyway, it's with many of the same folks we summer camp with.  Some years it's been nice, many years not-so-nice.  Two years ago it wasn't so nice -- it was very cold AND there was a burning ban due to the drought.  As I noted in the title, this year it was NOT frozen, nor was

A Grateful Nation Remembers
I can remember my late grandmother, Mary Alice Ingalls Swanson (b. 1901, d. 1994) calling Veterans Day (November 11) "Armistice Day".  During my childhood in Michigan, I can remember going out to visit the grave of the grandfather I never knew, Albin Edward Swanson (b. 1894, d. 1957).  He had fought in World War I and died my dad's first week of college.  I know that it was always a source of sorrow for my dad that my brother and I never knew his dad.