Blog

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As a curious observer of life, I blog on writing, marketing, my prairie - anything that interests me in the moment. I like to have conversations with readers, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I'll respond.

"Food will win the war" – Women & WWI

By Carol / 18 June 2013 /

My novel set during WWI has had me digging into how the war affected Americans in their everyday lives. A popular women’s magazine of the era, Ladies Home Journal showed that even before the United…

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What is the value of a letter?

By Carol / 10 June 2013 /

When I was a kid growing up on the farm in the 1950s, I waited everyday for the mailman to stop at our mailbox. It wasn’t as though anyone was going to write to me,…

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What seeds have you planted?

By Carol / 20 May 2013 /

Sweeps of purple hyacinths. Multitudes of candy apple red, neon yellow, and peppermint stripped tulips. Majestic blue and white flag irises. A host of golden daffodils. Like magic, every spring my garden fills with this…

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Completing a century of quilting

By Carol / 18 February 2013 /

In December I began hand quilting a Grandma’s Garden quilt my grandmother began to assemble about a century ago. This month I finished the task. Throughout, I was literally wrapped in history as I held…

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An homage to the iron

By Carol / 11 February 2013 /

Monopoly players have said good-bye to the iron, welcoming a cat as the new player piece. As kids growing up in the 1950s, my sisters and I played Monopoly often, and I have to admit,…

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Saving up sunshine

By Carol / 25 July 2012 /

Okay, I know it’s hot. Predicted to be 107 degrees today. I know it’s dry. The driest in Iowa since the 1950s. There can hardly be a soul out there who wouldn’t like to see…

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Mom's gift of hospitality

By Carol / 14 May 2012 /

Life on our family farm was controlled by three things: the seasons of the year, the cows that had to be milked twice a day, and Mom’s meals that got us all sitting around the…

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Good fences make good neighbors

By Carol / 27 February 2012 /

We have new neighbors and we’re delighted. Like the previous folks, the new owners are horse people. Watching the horses out my kitchen window is one of my great pleasures. One morning, one of the…

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Cooking up Aebelskivers and liver sausage

By Carol / 27 December 2011 /

I was remiss! I should have provided the recipe for Aebleskivers. Here’s the one I used. I found it on allrecipes.com.  I only made half a recipe, which was plenty for two of us. For…

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Letting go of tradition

By Carol / 26 December 2011 /

Liver sausage and waffles. That’s my family’s traditional Christmas Eve supper. This tradition started when Dad gave Mom a waffle iron one Christmas when I was a teenager. I was old enough to wonder at…

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