Sophie's Story

     When I looked back at my Facebook memories today, I noticed many years of Happy Stepmother Day posts. An internet search back then had told me that Stepmother's Day was on May 1. ( It's actually the Sunday after Mother's Day.) I decided that since I am a stepmother, I should recognize the day. I did for many years, in 2019 the posts stopped. I quit celebrating Stepmother's Day.     A bit of backstory is in order here. When I got married almost 20 years ago, I not only gained a  husband, I also gained five stepchildren who ranged in age from early twenties to early teens and a granddaughter. My joke was that I went from zero to five kids in 30 minutes the length of a standard Lutheran wedding ceremony.    It was important to me that my stepchildren feel welcome in our lives. The three older children were part of our wedding party. I had hopes that in time we would be a family. During our long engagement we discussed the issue of stepchildren and formed a few ground

      This morning I watched a memorial service for seven people who worked for World Central Kitchen distributing food in Gaza. They were killed as they left a warehouse on a food distribution mission.     The service had beautiful music and verses of Scripture read by an imam, a rabbi and a Roman Catholic Archbishop. I was surprised to see these faith come together. That alone made a great impression on me.     José Andrés, who founded and runs the charity, gave a eulogy. He spoke of each person that was killed telling a bit about them and what they brought to the organization. It was clear he cared for these people and their loss was very hard for him. He spoke of  the work that his charity does not only providing food to those in need but letting them know that they are not alone, treating them with  dignity and respect. He called the seven workers "the best of humanity" who took risks to feed people they did not know.   “ Their examples should inspire us to do better, to

      Now that the weather has been warmer (and then colder and then warmer). I decided it might be a good time to look around and see how things are growing. I was a little concerned due to the lack of snow that we'd lose a few things.     There are a lot of tulips that have come up. They come up every year. It seems like we get more and more of them. I enjoy the fact that they come up in random spots. This year, I plan to mark where they are so I can move them around at the appropriate time.      While the tulips have lots of buds coming up, the amaryllis do not. The amaryllis live indoors. They have lots of lovely green leaves, but no buds. The two plants I gave my Dad have no buds on them either. Maybe next year.     The daisies that I transplanted last fall are growing. C thought they were all dead, because of the dried stalks that were laying in the area. When I moved the stalks away, I found green shoots. I was pretty happy about that because I didn't think I had watered

     Hi! I am Barnaby. I live here with my humans and Willow. Actually she prefers that I call her Princess Willow. I like her. She likes to run and jump and play hide and seek, Her favourite toys are plastic springs. Sometimes I like to play with them too.        I like to play with balls. Sparkle balls are my favourite. I can chase those all day long except when I am napping, eating or looking out the windows. Willow has made me a deputy housecat. That means I have to look out the windows and guard against intruders. I'm bigger than Willow so I should be the Chief House Cat, but I am too easily distracted.     I am a big fluffy cat. I have a beautiful tail. It is big, fluffy and orange striped. I like to walk with my tail up so everyone can see how beautiful it is. Actually I am a handsome cat. I have gold eyes  and perfectly shaped ears. I was afraid that I would look odd because my left ear is clipped, but Sophie says it just makes me look cuter. I like Sophie. She's a good

    Before starting my column, I thought I would print out a few family history things for C. All I was going to do was print out what was needed and then begin the column. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the tab marked indexing.       I had done some indexing a long time ago when I first started working part time and needed something to fill the hours I wasn't working. Indexing genealogy records means looking at records that have been digitized and typing the information into a form so documents can be easily found. I indexed some birth records from the 1980s. I attempted to index records from Germany. Unfortunately the records were written in German Script, a type of cursive handwriting that is very hard to read. After that I gave up. I also found other things to do.     This time when I looked at indexing I saw there were other things I could do. One of them was to verify names in documents. The other was to verify full names in documents. The last choice was to verify place name

     I was looking for some new books to read. Lately I have been reading books about the British Royal family, mostly about the late King Edward VII and the late King George VI. I did it out of curiosity and partly because I've read all the books by my favourite authors that I'm interested in.     Over the years I've met a several people who are fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the popular books The Hobbit  and The Lord of the Rings . C and my stepchildren are fans of the movies based off these books.    Although I've dipped my toes into the fantasy genre now and again reading Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey, I'd never read any Tolkien books. Part of the reason for this is out of intimidation. I thought Tolkien books would be hard to understand. I thought the plots would be very complicated and knew he had constructed several languages that his characters speak. I thought they would be the kind of books that you would need to take notes on the side to keep thin

     Lent is usually the time to focus on repentance seeking forgiveness from God.  I've subscribed to a couple of Lenten meditations. One of them mentioned that along for asking forgiveness from God, it is a good time to ask for forgiveness from others and to forgive those you haven't yet.     I took an opportunity to write a letter asking for forgiveness from the Relief Society president that I served with until we were released about six months ago.  She responded with a letter essentially accepting my apology, a great relief to me. It also occurred to me that should also take care of another piece of unfinished business. I needed to forgive, truly forgive, the boys that bullied me in high school. Some of you may think that taking more than 36 years to forgive something is a bit too long and maybe it is. For years I thought I'd forgiven them and moved on, but what I really did was just put it in a mental box and put the box on a shelf. Every once in awhile something woul

      I tend to get myself in trouble when I compare my cats to children. For the record I am well aware they are cats, not children. I do not dress them up, except for the occasional costume and I do not hold birthday parties for them. (although they do get a special meal on their birthdays and on holidays.)    Like children they all have different personalities and they like different things. Barnaby likes sparkle balls. Willow prefers spring toys. Scamp liked toys with feathers. Colby was a big fan of the light chaser. Nim loved all food especially treats. Ary needed at least 20 minutes of cuddle time every day and would let me know if I had forgotten.    Willow and Barnaby are nearly a year old now and it's been fun watching them grow and develop. I had always thought that Willow was going to be the alpha cat, but it looks like Barnaby, who is a gentle loving cat, has taken that spot. I'm surprised by this as Willow tended to be a bit wild and aggressive. Maybe it has to do

     I gave my mother a set of watercolour paints, a drawing tablet and a kid's book on how to draw. A few weeks ago she started using the watercolour paints instead of coloured pencils in her colouring books. Since she goes through the child's set of paints so quickly, my Dad got her a set of waterbased acrylic paint to use. C bought her an inexpensive set of brushes.    Usually when I visit Mom, we work on a paint by numbers kit. Last week I wanted to play with Mom's paints. Her set has some very bright colours. I took a wide brush and dipped into the hot pink paint. I started painting wavy streaks on the paper in a sort of radial fashion. I likes the way the the colour faded as I moved the brush along. I did this with purple, blue and a little yellow. In the space where my rays of paint started I painted little dots that were the same colours as the rays.    Once I got done with it I looked at it. I liked it. It was pretty.     Then I attempted to draw a butterfly. I loo

   It's not often that I leave work feeling really proud of who I am and what I do. Most of my working days are good, a few are not so good and some days are just plain wonderful.      A doctor from the local clinic sent over a prescription for an antibiotic oral liquid that I don't have in stock. Not many pharmacies carry it because this particular antibiotic is generally not given to younger children due to side effects.    Before I had a chance to call the doctor, a man with his son came in. They wanted to know if the prescription was ready. I explained to them what was going on and told the man that I would call the doctor for an alternate. While I was on hold waiting for a nurse, I looked at the prescription. I realized that it was for one dose. I did a little math and discovered that there was a capsule that could be used. If the child couldn't swallow the capsule, it could be opened and put on some sort of soft food, like applesauce. As long as it was put in non dair

      After I was released as a counselor in Relief Society, I was asked to be one of the women who teach at Relief Society Sunday meetings.  I was happy about that request because teaching is something I like to do and it fits in much better with my schedule.    The lessons we teach are taking from talks given by church leaders at the General Conferences which are held twice a year. This morning I realized that I would be teaching in a couple weeks and that I should listen to the talk I chose so I could begin to plan my lesson.    A few minutes into the talk, I wondered why I had chosen it. It was about discrimination and the need to treat all people with dignity and kindness. Clearly I had not put any thought into choosing this lesson. What could I, a white woman of a certain amount of privilege, teach a class of other white women with as much or more privilege? What would the few women of minority cultures think of my teaching this lesson? Clearly I have no credibility on this subje

     One of the things I have decided to do this Lenten season (the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter) is to observe the practice of not eating meat on Fridays. Even though the faith I practice doesn't observe Lent, I have found it spiritually useful to do so anyway.    I started refraining from meat on Fridays during Lent in college because I had several friends who were of the Catholic faith. Since I ate meals with them in the cafeteria quite often, I chose not to eat meat out of respect for them. Once I got out of college and was on my own, I stopped the practice.  As a side note, my Mom told me that  when she was young, Catholics didn't eat meat at all during Lent. That's why there are cheese ands raisin ravioli, so that people could get iron from the raisins. (I don't like cheese and raisin ravioli.)     One of the things that I have been exploring as part of my meat free meals is tofu. I'm one of those strange souls that likes to order the tofu dishes at A

        When you adopt a kitten, you never quite know who is coming to live with you. You may have an idea when you meet her/him the first time, but once the kitten gets settled in you start to learn more about them.    Barnaby was described as "starving for affection" which immediately made me want to meet him. When he curled up in my arms and began to purr the first time I picked him up, it sealed the deal. I wanted to take him home.     The first few days with us were not easy. Willow wasn't happy with the new arrival. I realized that I needed to give him time to get used to his new home and give Willow a chance to adjust as well. In about a week they were able to be together and now they are friends.     Barnaby has turned about to be an interesting kitten. He's not quite a year old so there may be more changes ahead. He's grown a lot and is much bigger than I thought he would be. When I try to play with Willow, he wants to play too and take over. I had assume

     Yesterday one of my tasks was to clean out the fridge. I've been increasingly frustrated at my inability to get to what I need without having to take a lot of things out. I also wanted to see if there were any forgotten leftovers luring in the back. I know that I'm missing at least one container.    One of the the things that I noticed is that we had a lot of vegetables. One reason for this is that we got a small veggie tray for Super Bowl snacking. There was also a partial container of mushrooms that C bought as a  side  with our Valentine's meal of steak. I found a bag with one dried out tortilla in it. That irritated me because I try hard to use things up before opening a new container. There were two open bottles of store bought pickles. They were consolidated.  I found some rice that was starting to mold and a container of pulled pork that someone had given us. The pulled pork made me a little mad. I don't eat pork and I wish that C would have given it away if

        It finally snowed this week about two months too late. I was still happy to see it. Unlike just about everyone else I know, I like snow. It brightens up the winter atmosphere and makes everything, except roads, look better. There are few things prettier than snow sparkling in the sunlight.        It was the perfect snow, just enough to cover the ground and the trees not enough to cause major problems with traffic. As much as I like snow, I'm not a fan of snowstorms or blizzards. Not everyone has the privilege of being able to stay inside during bad winter weather. I have had to drive during bad weather to get to work.  This was a nice snow where the flakes came down and the snowplows were out pushing it off the roads and putting down snowmelt. The ridge that the snowplows leave in front of driveways was small enough to drive over.    Along with the snow has come some cooler weather, another thing that I welcome. The cooler weather gives me the chance to bundle up and feel c

     This year for what felt like the first time in several years, C and I watched the Super Bowl. I've given up watching football, at least pro football because it just wasn't any fun anymore. I enjoy watching college football, preferably small schools, where the players play because they enjoy it, not because they are planning to enter the pro draft.    Another reason why I didn't  watch past Super Bowls was because I was tired of seeing Tom Brady and his team in the game. The game always seemed to be Patriots versus another large market team. It was a given the the Patriots were going to win. No fun.    We both thought this year would be a good year to watch the game. Although we hoped  that Detroit would be playing, the San Francisco- Kansas City matchup would be an entertaining one. There was the added benefit of not being a big fan of either team, although I would admit that I really wanted Kansas to win.    The first thing that we did on Sunday afternoon was to put t

     In the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, Idgie is trying to comfort Stump. Stump is the son of Idgie's business partner Ruth who is dying of cancer. She says, "I guess you already know that there are angels masquerading as people walking around this planet and your mom was the bravest one of those."   It's one of my favourite  quotes in the entire movie. Part of the reason is because I believe  it is true. One of them was a guy I knew in high school named Harold. Another is my cousin, Ann.    I'm writing this on Friday night and right now my cousin Ann is in Rochester. Her niece, Rachel, is there in hospice with just days to live. Rachel was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, I'm not sure when. Ann and Rachel's siblings are there to spend this time together before Rachel leaves mortality. Ann has been caring for Rachel during her illness.    Unfortunately, this is not a new situation for Ann. Her older sister, Jean, who is Rachel's mother, fo

     Today was the last practice in the 30 day yoga journey. Earlier this month I had decided I was going each practice every day. I've never done that many days of yoga that many days in a row. This year I wanted to try it.    It wasn't as hard as I thought to fit them in on the days that I usually don't work out. On the days that I worked a morning shift, I did the practice after dinner or before bedtime. On Thursdays I did the practice before my Toastmaster's meeting. The fact that the practices were 20-25 minutes long helped a lot.     Some of the practices were pretty challenging and I learned to modify things to make them work for me. I think that they are set up for people with some experience and who are more flexible and in some ways stronger than I am. The leader uses very non judgmental language which helps me to feel better. I look more like Hilda the Dancing Hippo than a lithe and graceful yogi, my tree poses are more like shaking tree or crashing tree. Sti

     Former host of CBS Sunday Morning, Charles Osgood, died recently at age 91. I've spent many Sunday mornings, virtually, with him and have fond memories of those days.    My mother got me interested in the show back when Osgood's predecessor, Charles Kuralt, was the host. Until then I never watched TV on Sunday morning because we went to church. After I graduated from college, on weekends I wasn't visiting my parents, I watched Sunday Morning now and again.    I didn't become a regular viewer until I moved into my first house in Faribault. Every weekend off that I spent at home I watched Sunday morning. Charles Osgood was the host.     I liked to watch Sunday Morning while drinking a pot of freshly brewed tea and eating pastries from a local bakery. I always bought the pastry on Saturday. I would sit on the couch, pot of tea on the coffee table and pastry on a plate, cats curled up nearby ready for the first sounds of the trumpet that began each show.    For the nex

     Last summer my Uncle James had lunch with my parents and me. Uncle James and my Dad are brothers. I asked them about food that they used to eat when they were younger. One of them mentioned something called "slop". It was a dish made of hamburger, elbow macaroni, mushroom soup and tomatoes. They told me that my Aunt Ann would have the recipe.    I emailed Aunt Ann. She had the recipe and still made it. It was a favourite of her family. She it to me. It was something that Aunt Carol, found on the back of macaroni box. She was helping their uncle on the farm while their aunt was in the hospital and found the recipe. They didn't have the tomatoes called for in the recipe so they used a quart of home canned tomatoes. They didn't have mushrooms either so they used mushroom soup. When they made it at home they used both mushroom soup and canned mushrooms.     Two weeks ago Dad sent a text telling me that Uncle James would be coming for lunch and that we should have slo

   Last week C and I had a few errands to run on the east side of town after I got my hair done.  On the way home we stopped off to grab some lunch at a fast food restaurant. When we walked in I saw that they had a Freestyle soda machine.    A Freestyle soda machine is one that has several basic sodas with optional flavorings for each basic kind. For instance you can get a cherry cola from a Freestyle machine. I really like these machines because I can get different kinds of flavours.     After we put in our order and got our cups, I walked over to the machine to explore my options. They had caffeine free diet cola, which I prefer because normal cola is too sweet for me. (Yes, I am aware it's not healthy.) I looked at the flavoring options and chose vanilla. There is something about vanilla and cola flavor that I really like.    I took my drink to our table while C went back to get our food. The first sip was wonderful. I savored my drink along with the burger and fries that I orde

     It's January and I've been hit with my yearly desire to be more organized. Usually this manifests itself as a desire to empty every bookshelf and closet and then put everything back hopefully more neatly and getting rid of things I don't want or need.    My first targets are going to be the three bookshelves we have in the living room and the bookshelf in our bedroom. The living room ones are seen by anyone who visits our home and I want them to be neat. I also want to be able to find what I want without having to dig around for it.    We have one whole bookcase dedicated to church books. Some of them are ones I do not think we will ever use again. Others are paper copies of things that can be accessed digitally. My goal is to have all the church books in that one bookcase and in order so we can find what we want easily. We have another bookshelf with other books that is messy, there are papers and other items laying all over it. I want to straighten it out and maybe p

     Every January for the last several years the YouTube yoga teacher I like does a 30 day yoga journey. This is the second one I've participated in. (I have gone back and done past ones before.) I usually don't work out on Sunday, Thursday or any day that I work the day shift so I was not participating in classes on those days and would have to do two classes on one day to catch up. This year I decided I was not going to skip days and make them up. If that means I'd do some classes after work, then that's what I would do.    I wanted to try doing the yoga journey as it was intended. There would be thousands of other people doing the same thing. The thought of being a part of this community even though I don't know any of them and would never see them interested me. I also wanted the feeling of taking on the challenge, small as it is and completing it. Starting the year with a completed goal  is always a good thing to do.    The physical challenge is also something

     Today I had a early appointment with my audiologist, which  took about 45 minutes. The only other errand we had to complete was to take my glasses in for an adjustment. Today is also date day. I gave C a couple options. The first was that we go to breakfast and then stay home for the rest of the day to do the things we needed to get done at home. The second was to go home do what we need to do and then go out to lunch. C thought about it for a few minutes. I suggested a couple of  breakfast places. One of them is  OPH. OPH is short for the Original Pancake House, a breakfast restaurant that I was introduced to last summer.    C perked up when I suggested OPH. We decided we would go home to get my glasses (I was wearing an old pair), have breakfast at OPH and then go to get the glasses adjusted.     The parking lot looked crowded so we thought we may have to wait for a table. I went inside while C parked the car. Once I got inside I saw that there was plenty of room. I was seated a

     Anyone who has been reading this column know that yesterday and today are my favourite holidays. Having the clean slate of a new year in front of me is my favourite thing to celebrate. The added benefit of a day to eat junk food without guilt is an added bonus.     I like looking ahead too. I don't make any new year resolutions. I do think of some things that I'd like to do this year and plan for how to get them done. C and I try to set a few goals as a couple like doing certain house projects, cleaning up our diets or managing our finances differently.     2023 brought a few changes to our lives. The biggest was losing Scamp in May. For the first time in nearly 30 years. I did not have a cat to take care of. I had completely underestimated how devastated I was. So much of my time had been spent caring for Scamp especially as he got older. I felt very lonely and bereft when he was gone. In July we had an opportunity to help someone out by babysitting a young kitten. It mad