We’ve all heard about preppers who stock up on supplies in case something bad happens that puts them off the grid. Thanks to Hurricane Florence, most of us became preppers ourselves this past week, stocking up on water, nonperishable food, matches, batteries, medications and other supplies. I’m not a hoarder, but I do keep a full pantry. I learned to …
I know it’s September, but if you’re like me, 2019 began months ago with a scheduled dental appointment, club meetings and conference dates. By early August, my notes for the coming year were bunching up on the margins for December. It was time for me to buy a new calendar, one of those broad spiral notebooks with a vinyl cover …
You fumble through pockets, bags and check your surroundings and suddenly realize the horror: your brand-new cell phone has vanished. That happened on a recent trip to Boston. We returned our rental car at Logan Airport, and if you’ve ever flown in and out of there, you know what a challenge it is. The car rental center has 12 car …
California’s fire season has been a record-breaker. This latest wildfire, dubbed the Holy Fire, has had me keenly interested. Photos of a suburban neighborhood showed thick smoke billowing from hills overlooking the area where our son and family lived less than two years ago. Thanks to an arsonist, the streets and buildings we visited south of Corona were evacuated as …
If you’re like me, you’ve spent most of your working life in Catawba County. I hadn’t thought much about that until I attended docent training at the Museum of History on the Square in Newton. That’s where “The Way We Worked” will be exhibited from Aug. 10-Sept. 18. I will be one of the volunteers helping to guide visitors through …
On Friday, July 13 I stepped into a house built by my 9th great grandfather, Benjamin Balch. No, I am not making this up. The Balch House, located in coastal Beverly, MA, dates to 1679 and is one of the oldest wooden houses in North America. I discovered the amazing house last summer while poking around on Ancestry and other …
I was interviewed by by Hal Row of WHKY’s First Talk on July 6. I’m discussing–what else?–Idol Talk! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zNuqxFL-06MzadJdlx5H_m0F7z7mrrrt/view
Testing DNA is a national craze. Eighteen months ago I succumbed to the temptation. Like thousands of others, I ponied up the fee and mailed off my saliva sample to Ancestry.com. A few weeks later learned that I am 43 percent British, 34 percent Irish and 12 percent Scandinavian. The Scandinavian bit threw me. My family paper trail shows I’m …
The Catawba County Museum of History is asking the public to submit stories of their working life as part of an upcoming attraction, “The Way We Worked.” It’s all part of a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit opening Aug. 8 in Newton. If I were to write a work story, it would involve my friend Sylvia Bajorek. It all began in …
Ladies, if you’re like me, you had a teen idol. Yes, I know. It is a bit embarrassing to admit that any of us “mature adults” once dreamed of meeting Elvis, dancing with Paul McCartney or breathing the same air as Bobby Sherman. My idol (surprise!) was Peter Noone, Herman of Herman’s Hermits, the group that gave us such ear …