♬ I Ain’t Afraid of No Goat ♬

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 3.6 million students are expected to graduate from high schools in the United States over the next couple of weeks-- my granddaughter and nephew will be among them.   So I guess it's only natural for me to reminisce back to my high school days where there was only radio, television, …

We Just Didn’t Make This Stuff Up…Or, Did We?

Facebook Post on Origins of Expressions This morning my daughter shared a September 3, 2014, Facebook post created by Dan Steele (Dan Balam) of Norfolk, Virginia.  His post was an easy and fun read that got me to questioning whether the origins of the terms and phrases actually had been proven true or were myths …

French Soldier’s Room Remains Unchanged 96 Years After His Death in World War I

The story below touched my heart so much that I felt compelled to share it with my readers.  I can only imagine with great trepidation enduring the loss of a son and honoring him beyond my time on this planet... THIS IS A REBLOG FROM THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER: Parents kept room as it was the day he …

Flashbacks of the Great Y2K Scare

The Great Y2K Scare The great Y2K scare was spread by scaremongers who thought that the world's computer systems would cease to function on December 31, 1999.  The Y2K problem, aka, "the Millennium bug," "the Y2K bug," or simply "The Year 2000 problem" was both a  digital (computer-related) and non-digital documentation and storage issue.  The quick and easy fix was to convert …

A Girl Jekyll and Hyde Who Embezzled $110,000

I subscribe to World Explorer Ancestry.com which gives me full access to everything Ancestry has available, including Fold3.com, the military records site, and Newspapers.com, which includes unlimited access to more than 50 million pages from more than 1800 newspapers across the United States with billions of articles, obituaries, and announcements that may contain stories of my …

What’s in a Name…

As Shakespeare so eloquently wrote: What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet... But... Were you aware that there is statistical information even about your surname or first name that you can use to have some fun or interesting discussions?  (And, yes, you also can …

Hello Again, World – My 145th Post

My First Post - Eight Months Ago Eight months ago on November 15, 2012, I published “Hello World“--my 341-word first blog post ever, under the category of Witches and Witchcraft.  I wondered then if some of my family from among the 40 generations I have traced back could have been among those accused of witchcraft …

You Know Times Have Changed When…

New Yorker Magazine Cover Suggests Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie are Gay By Lisa Respers France, CNN June 28, 2013 -- Updated 2000 GMT (0400 HKT) (CNN) -- If you believe the cover of The New Yorker magazine, Bert and Ernie may be ready to come out. "The cover, titled "Moment of Joy," shows the Sesame Street …

Dragon Boat Racers Help End Hunger in Calvert County

About the Sport Dragon boat racing is an amateur paddle team water sport.  Its roots lie in ancient Chinese folklore with annual competitions of local villagers held in China for more than 20 centuries. The Dragon Boat festival, or Duān Wǔ Jié, celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar …

My Favorite Mullethead

This little tike, my #2 grandson, was two when this picture was taken of him in 1990.  He's now 25 and has twins of his own (a boy and a girl) who will be two in just a few months.  With all of today's varying cultures and social styles, I'll be interested in seeing their …

Scientists Discover “God’s Bathtub”

This morning I was communing with nature sitting in a glider under a pergola on my freshly stained deck with birds eating from a feeder not five feet away.  Absorbing the sunshine and feeling the occasional ever so gentle breeze wisp across my face, I was thinking about this glorious day and just how beautiful …

A Poem To Me Mudder

I wrote this piece 10 years ago just before Father's Day. June 20, 2021. It was our family's first Father’s Day without our patriarch. In addition to COVID, a lack of civility towards each other and even racist and political unrest that left coworkers, family, and friends divided, we lost a loving and caring man …

When’s the Last Time You Expressed Your Feelings Through a Greeting Card?

When cleaning my desk in my home office I came upon a birthday card from my second born son and his wife.  I had set this card aside after initially receiving it in January 2013. When I received it, I couldn't fully focus on it with others around.  I knew though that I wanted to …

Are You Smarter Than An 8th Grader in 1895 Kansas?

In honor of... my paternal family's educators: grand aunt Lelia May Powell Bowling (1903-1985) school teacher for 35 years before retiring and 2nd cousin (6x removed) Anna Peyton Bolling (1836-1919), high school teacher, then principal from 1876-1904 in Petersburg, Virginia, where Anna P. Bolling Junior High School in Petersburg, Virginia was built in 1926 and was …

Believe it or Not–We Learned this in Church Today!

the real normal: the real problem I usually do not post religious messages on my blog because we all know that religion and politics can be off-putting topics.  But, today's exercise at church was really fun and I wanted to share the exercise with you.  So whether your religious beliefs and mine agree, just know …