Grandma's Gleanings
Words and Thoughts from Grandma
As a young parent many years ago, I became aware of one fact: my little ones were growing at lightning-fast speed. With three toddler boys, someone was always in need of longer pants, shirts that completely covered their tummies, and of course, shoes that didn’t scrunch their toes. When we were in the midst …
While watching national news coverage of an Atlantic Ocean hurricane recently, I was taken back a bit by one of the visuals presented on the screen. The shot was taken off of the eastern Florida coastline where the tropical storm winds were already pounding the shore. Out on the horizon, amidst the raging waves …
Isaac, the son of promise, knelt before the God of Israel, his heart heavily burdened and confused. The promise of the Messiah had been passed on to him through Abraham, his father, a promise that “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” But he had no child. Isaac bowed …
It was once a busy shopping center, housing one of the first pre-Walmart, all-purpose stores in our rural area. The place was always packed, hopping with activity, with the parking lot filled to capacity. Eventually smaller stores joined the original store, establishing a profitable strip mall for our small community to enjoy. That all …
East of the city of Jerusalem the landscape dramatically plummets from mountain peaks to the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea. The sandy area is littered with rocky caves where some of the most dramatic stories of the Bible have taken place. In 1947, a young Bedouin shepherd was seeking out a stray …
Games of my childhood were so simple compared to the high-tech world that today’s children have accessible to them. We didn’t have ipads, video games, or even color televisions. Summer days were passed riding bikes, taking walks in the woods, singing silly jump-rope songs, competing in a mini-tournament of jacks, or playing a neighborhood game …
The Winkle Watermelon Debate has been an unresolved issue in our marriage for years. How exactly do you eat it? Do you take my hubby’s neat and tidy route, pre-cutting the delectable fruit with a fork and knife, eliminating the mess? Or would you prefer my method: slice it, chomp into it with wild …
I have accumulated quite a few gifts from students over my many years of teaching. Some gifts were edible and therefore immediately consumed (aka….CHOCOLATE), but others still dot the inside landscape of my home: pictures, ornaments, small figurines, and hand-made treasures, all sentimental mementos from young people who have touched my life deeply and …
Places exist in my universe where the OCD deep within me bursts out for everyone to witness, and the grocery story is on the top of that list. It’s a bit embarrassing, but I am willing to share my system with you. I organize my grocery list in rows, mentally imagining the layout of …
Soon after we purchased our earthly forever home many years ago, we wanted to plan a garden. We had grown a fabulous garden at our previous rental house, canned most of the crop, and enjoyed the harvest of some fantastic vegetables well into the winter. But now we finally owned our own land, and …
Hear Ye, Hear Ye…our next promotional date is set for Friday, December 20th, at 8:00 pm. We are giving away our quarterly $25.00 Amazon Gift Card, just in time for post-Christmas on-line sales! If you have been entered in a previous giveaway, or are on our email list, you are already included. If you would …
An American painter and inventor, Samuel Morse, found the roots of his interest in the field of electricity while a student at Yale University. He would go on to spend twelve years attempting to perfect a working telegraph, during which time he composed his Morse code and secured the financing for the first experimental …
Some folks are talented musicians, not merely playing notes on a page, but making those notes sing. Some can take a raw piece of wood and carve it into a masterpiece. Others can grasp a palate of paint and some brushes, reach deeply within themselves, and create art. Personally, I have always enjoyed storytelling. I …
Some days I find myself at a loss for words, literally. As a lingering side-effect of my long bout with Lyme disease, I sometimes lose words. They are common, uncomplicated words, but suddenly and without warning, they are gone, wiped from my memory banks like an eraser sweeping across a chalkboard. Those teeny Lyme …
Oh, the joy of cutting into a fresh, crisp watermelon! This will certainly be the perfect dessert for the Sunday afternoon dinner that will follow a morning of worship at our local church. No one was looking, so I did sneak a few bites while slicing up our tantalizing dessert. After all, someone has …