Years ago when my children were small, I remember someone saying, “Small children; small problems. Big children; big problems.” Thinking back, I wouldn’t say that was true, although the problems were different at every stage. When we had our first child, I was 31. But my career until then had […]
Marie Snider – This Side of 60
I love all kinds of pickles–sweet dill pickles, pickled beets, gherkins, capers, pickled eggs, pickled cauliflower, green tomato pickles, bread and butter pickles, “stackers,” and especially my mother’s homemade pickles. According to legend, pickles have been spicing up otherwise bland meals for more than 4,000 years, when the people of […]
I love all kinds of pickles–sweet dill pickles, pickled beets, gherkins, capers, pickled eggs, pickled cauliflower, green tomato pickles, bread and butter pickles, “stackers,” and especially my mother’s homemade pickles. According to legend, pickles have been spicing up otherwise bland meals for more than 4,000 years, when the people of […]
Somehow, this Christmas, giving gifts and receiving gifts was more fun than usual. Small gifts and large. Expensive gifts and trifling gifts, as well as gifts from my closet. The least expensive gift I gave was a small bag of sesame sticks. My husband loves them! On the other hand, […]
As a child, I believed in Santa Claus. How could I not believe! Every Christmas, Santa gave me wonderful gifts–gifts any little girl would love. Dolls with real hair, baby dolls, a Flossy Flirt doll, a wicker doll carriage, and paper dolls (a three-foot Shirley Temple and the Dionne quintuplets […]
“Practice makes perfect.” That’s what your mother said when it was time to sit down at the piano. And what your father said when you first learned to bat a ball. Although they probably didn’t know it, your parents were quoting an old proverb dating back more than 2,000 years. […]
A lot of things have changed in the more than 20 years since I have been writing this column, but none has been more earth-shattering for me than the demise of paper. Early on, I had to print out multiple copies of each column (on paper) and stuff envelopes, including […]
It’s the cold season again. November, December, January, February, and even March can be blustery. It’s time to bundle up when you go outside and to sit by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and a book. But even more, this is the “cold” season–the season when we […]
Fifty years is a long time. Between age 14 and age 64, I had a lot of life experiences. But one experience I didn’t have in those 50 years was visiting Lowville Academy. And at my 50th high school class reunion, I couldn’t wait to see the changes in the […]
It’s fall again—autumn if you want to wax poetic. And think about it for a minute, what would autumn be without leaves? Oaks, maples, aspens, cottonwoods, green ash trees. Blanketing the countryside with colour. It’s because of autumn leaves that we think nostalgically and longingly of New England, the Ozarks, […]
“Indian summer”: a period of unusually dry, warm weather occurring in late autumn in the northern hemisphere. Growing up in northern New York state, I don’t remember anyone talking about Indian summer. Maybe I was just unaware. Later, as a young pastor’s wife, I lived across the continent in Edmonton, […]
Last Saturday was a good day for me. In fact, the whole weekend was filled with good days, actually splendid days, as we celebrated a 40-year tradition of Fall Festivals at Bethel College, where my husband taught for 30 years. It all began with the “Taste of Newton” at 6 […]
