Sophie's Story

     In the movie "Singing in the Rain", there is a great deal of excitement at Monumental Pictures. Warner Brothers Studio has just released a talking movie. (Until then movies were silent with just music in the background.) The public loves it and movie theatres are installing sound equipment. R.F. Simpson, the head of the Monumental announces that they will make a talking picture featuring their most famous stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont. "Lockwood and Lamont, they talk!" declares Simpson.    "Of course we talk, don't ivrybody?" replies Lina Lamont.     The heads of all the men in the room swivel to Lina. They realize that her screechy voice and strong accent do not match the beautiful sophisticated image that people see. This begins the movie.    One of the things I have discovered in my 13 plus years of living with Scamp is that he can talk. Not in English words as I have often portrayed him and not always in sounds.   ...

     Hi! This is Skamp!     Sophie has a case of writers block so I am filling in for her today.  C has been complaining about the weather. It's been much colder than normal which means that the humans cannot go out and ride their bikes or do other things outside. He's found other things to do, but it makes him sad that it is rainy and cloudy.    I, on the other hand, have no problem with the weather. There are lots of things to see outside. There are birds building nests and other animals outside. I watch them carefully to make sure that none of them harm my humans. I am the Chief HouseCat and take my duties seriously.     Another thing I like to do is watch cars. There are a lot of cars that pass by the house especially in the morning. They go very fast. I am surprised they do not crash they go so fast. Sophie says that they are not going as fast as they seem. I don't know. I always tell my humans to be safe when they drive i...

     One of the things I was looking forward to when I started working part time was having some free time. Time to do things that I wanted to do, but didn't have time. Things like practicing all my instruments, organizing, doing large knitting projects, gardening, spending more time biking and hiking. Maybe even paint a few rooms in the house, bake some bread or do deep clean of everything. Take my friend, Dana, up on her offer to teach me to make icing flowers.    That's what you do when your work hours drop from 55 plus hours a week down to 20-30, right?    I have found that reality doesn't work that way. One thing that happened is that I got this new calling at church. One thing that I didn't know is that leadership callings involve meeting. Lots of meetings. I have one meeting that I must attend every week when I'm not at work and another meeting that is every other week and lasts around two hours. I visit women in the ward once about once a month...

      We got an unexpected call from the couple that owns the B&B we stay at in Door County.  They had decided to move back to Milwaukee in order to help care for an elderly family member and had sold the B&B. The new owners were not planning on running it as a business and were going to make it into a family home. C and I were in shock. We had stayed at that same place every trip we made to Door County since our honeymoon in 2004.    We loved coming back to the same place each year. It was was almost like having another home. It was quiet and private. The back of the B&B was on the border of a nature preserve. Tall trees lined the street leading to the B&B. It was the place we stayed on our first trip as a married couple. It was our place of rest from our hectic life in the city. It was the place where we planned many things. It was a place of escape during some hard times. It was the only place we always came back to.    Now we w...

         A few weeks ago when preparing to write my column, I noticed a large number at the top of the list of posted columns. It was 1000. I had written 1000 columns. I was shocked. Had I really written that many? I checked the archive. It showed that I started writing the column in September 2009. I've been doing this for 12 years.     Actually I started writing a couple years before this. At that time I would write the column on Word document and send it to a few friends who seemed interested. Unfortunately when I got a new computer the early columns were lost.    A lot has happened in 12 years. There were losses: Colby, Dean, Evie, Helen, jobs, friends moving away. There were also gains: new jobs, new friends, a few new church callings, new baby nieces and nephews. There were adventures: Charleston, Chicago, the North Shore, the Cannon Valley trail and daytrips to new places.    I've written about all kinds of things: ...

      When my Dad went back to his house in southern Minnesota to get some things that he and Mom wanted, he brought back a couple of things for me.     One of those things was a quilt. During the time that Mom and I weren't speaking to each other, Mom took up quilting. Her goal was to make a quilt for each of her grandchildren, which I'm told she did. She also made a beautiful quilt that was on their bed at the house. I told my parents that if they did not want the quilt, I'd like to have it. It is very colourful and bright. Mom worked very hard to make it and I admired what she had done. I never knew she was so creative, she didn't do much in the way of crafts when I was younger.    The other things was a clock. A wooden Gilbert mantel clock. It was given to my grandparents as a wedding present. The were married in 1933 so the clock is almost 90 years old. I remember it at my grandparents' house. When they passed away, my Dad got it and kept it ...