Late last week Tom and I headed for Grand Portage, Minnesota. Never heard of it? If you look at the map at the place where Minnesota, Canada, and Lake Superior all join, you will find Grand Portage. We are serving for the summer as living historians at Grand Portage National Monument, so you will be …
From May 2016
Happy 35th Anniversary, Tom Hartley
Today I have been married to Tom Hartley for 35 years. My parents will be married for 60 years next year and we have some friends who just celebrated their 70th anniversary, so 35 years is a drop in the bucket compared to them. But you have to start somewhere . . . It was …
Full of Juice and Ready to Be Squeezed
I like to buy those little oranges (Cuties or Haloes) and have them for a snack. I especially enjoy them when the juice runs all over my hands – then I know that they will be delicious. Sometimes they end up being dry and shriveled. I eat them, but they are not nearly as delicious. …
Roscoe Village: An 1830 Canal Town
On Monday Tom and I went to Roscoe Village as a half-way point for meeting our friend Karen Graham. I could not remember being in Roscoe Village before, so I was looking forward to the trip. Tom said he had been there before and didn’t like it much – he was a teenager at the …
Laid Low by a Bug
Friday night Tom and I were laid low by a bug of some kind. Earlier that night, Tom and I went to Outback with the Shumans and Sandy Shaw. We had a great time and great food and enjoyed the evening immensely. One of the great things about being in Ohio is getting to catch …
Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument
On our busy adventure day to Dayton last week, we stopped by the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Wilberforce on our way home. This national monument is one of the youngest in the nation, dedicated a mere three years ago. Many people are surprised that there is a Buffalo Soldiers monument in Ohio …
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park
On our adventure day last week, Mom, Dad, Tom and I headed over to Dayton to see the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park. This is a national park that has six different sites in Dayton so you have to do some traveling to see the national park. We started, as all good tourists should, …
Means of Grace: Piety and Mercy
Last week I talked about kinds of grace. This week I want to cover the means of grace: how we experience the great, generous love of God after we have walked through the door of the mansion of grace. John Wesley, in Sermon 16, preached that the means of grace are the “ordinary channels” by …
Getting the Ram 5500 Serviced
When Tom and I bought the Ram 5500, we never thought we would have any problems getting it serviced. We have always taken our cars and trucks back to the dealership for service. It probably cost us more, but we knew we would get warranted service with parts appropriate for the vehicle. If it wasn’t …
How to Be a Heroine
“How to Be a Heroine” by Samantha Ellis is an interesting book with an interesting premise. Samantha Ellis was raised by Iraqi-Jewish parents in London. As she was growing up she felt like an outsider and struggled with the constraints of a culture that wanted to isolate her. She escaped to the world presented by …