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Family Fun Between us, Mike and I have four children. Three girls and a boy. Actually, make that three women and a man. We also have three sons-in-law and eight grandchildren. Most of them live in Ohio and Wisconsin. Our son lives in Florida. This past week, Kendall, the youngest of my three girls, came  with her two daughters  to Florida for a short visit. We picked them up at the airport late Wednesday evening and made the most of the two full days they were around.  One item on their must-do list was a boat ride. Mike was happy to accommodate them. (And let me just say, God arranged everything on His end perfectly, too.) Thursday, we all headed out in the boat under a clear blue sky. Mike drove us around the lake so the girls could see the route we take to pick up my mother at her dock. (We didn’t need to pick her up this time…she was already with us in the boat.) Then we set off exploring.   That's Me with My "Little Girl" Mike steered past the old boathouse...

   He Said, She Said.  It's all about perspective. When my granddaughter and I visited the library during COVID, my granddaughter, ten years old at the time, checked out  The Dangerous Book for Girls . It is a fun book offering a range of how-to advice and information about growing up. There was a section in the book called “boys.” The author offered what boys think and why they act as they do.  Interesting.   My granddaughter wanted to know what the authors told boys about girls.  Smart.   So on our next visit to the library, she located  The Dangerous Book for Boys  and turned to the section labeled “girls.” Doing Her Research The authors of the book had little to say. They wrote an entire paragraph basically saying that girls like to talk. They also mentioned in a sentence or two that girls don’t find body noises as funny as boys do.  I could have told her that!   Remember the Mel Gibson/ Helen Hunt movie  What Women Wa...

  Morning Coffee          Mike is up before me every morning. He will venture into the kitchen and turn on the coffee pot. As is my habit, I’ve set it up the evening before, water in the holding tank and coffee in the filter. He turns it on and wakes me so I can shower and get the day started. I prepare breakfast while he showers. Routines. Routines simplify our lives. They offer a rhythm to daily living.  We pray. We eat. We talk about the day ahead as we drink our coffee and clear the dishes from the table. And then… And then we have our second cup of coffee.  Morning Coffee The second up of coffee is often the space when Mike and I share memories of the past or dreams for the future. We talk about our travels here and abroad. We talk about our children and grandchildren. We share stories from our work lives. His as a supervisor at Tampa Electric Company and mine as a teacher…of both young children and young adults. He shares...

  Tis the Season…For Football Saturday, Mike and I watched the Florida Gators play the University of South Florida (USF) football team.  I graduated from USF. Was I torn? No. When I attended the University of South Florida, we did not have a football team. We had a great basketball team, but football? No. Competitive swimming? Indeed. But football? No. In fact, in my seven-year tenure as a student at USF we had no football.   And yes, it took me seven years to complete that four-year program. Give me a break … I got married and gave birth to my first two children before I collected my first diploma.  I digress. This is about football. One of the Gators Hanging in Mike's Office In the 1970’s, USF had men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, and an outstanding men’s and women’s swim team program. There was talk of archery and badminton and bowling. BUT NO FOOTBALL. Why? The answer I’ve heard was twofold. Some professors and alumni argued that football brou...

  Recipe for Joy Recently, our church decided to put together a cookbook. It will feature favorite recipes from members of our congregation. I’ve had some experience with church cookbooks. They are filled with tried and true dishes. Mike suggested I share picadillo. It’s one of his favorites. You may remember my blog post about my first experience making it. If you want to try this favorite Cuban staple, CLICK HERE.    Then, this week when I talked about my blog, Mike said I should share a recipe or two. I appreciate he likes my cooking, but I wasn’t sure about filling the space with recipes. Still, I culled through my recipes and cookbooks, wondering if anyone would be interested. I pulled out another church cookbook. One I’ve had since 1986. The cover is missing. Many of the pages are ragged. But as I turned the pages, remembering precious friends from those days, I came to a well-worn page, stained with chocolate fingerprints. It is the page featuring a family favorite...