Grandma's Gleanings
Words and Thoughts from Grandma
We have been marooned in our house for two weeks now, fourteen long days of confinement within the walls of our home. Life has changed with the arrival of the coronavirus; we are experiencing a crisis, a time of national darkness and pain. But through the experience, we have learned to appreciate those insignificant …
They are the essential hardware that allows door to pivot on one edge as they open and close constantly during the course of one day. Hinges are found on virtually all doors in our homes, from the main entrance door, to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, to the gate enclosing the back yard. …
Doing an injury puts you below your enemy; revenging one makes you but even with him; forgiving one sets you above him. Those words, penned centuries ago by Benjamin Franklin, are oozing with wisdom. Revenge, that burning desire for retaliation and retribution, is one of the most natural, and destructive forces among all human …
One moment of distraction and it happened. I was busy working my evening job behind the deli counter of a small family-owned store close to my home. I was exhausted, working as many hours as I could squeeze into a week, trying to eke out enough money to pay for my college tuition and …
With the birth of the twenty-four-hour news cycle and the development of advanced, sophisticated weaponry, the general public has been made painfully aware of the term friendly fire. During the 1990’s, incidents between coalition troops in the Persian Gulf region brought that deadly phrase into the headlines. But friendly fire is not a new problem, …
Surrounding our small country cottage is a canopy of lovely, mature maple trees, providing us shade from the heat of summer and a beautiful tapestry of color in the fall. But there is that moment every year when I sincerely ponder having those trees felled to the ground. God provides the maple tree seed …
From all outward appearance, that mighty oak tree looked full, healthy, and vibrant, but on the inside, an unseen killer lurked. Deep within that oak, a fungal disease had spread unnoticed for years, and as a result, the center of the trunk and the larger branches had gradually suffered a process of decay. Known …
As I’ve mentioned a number of times, I’m an admitted plant-o-holic. Our property was fairly barren when we moved in decades ago, but no longer, for I have succeeded in cluttering the entire yard with shrubs, plants, bushes, flowers, tress, and of course, stray cats. But there is a downside to yard cluttering. What …
Our bodies can be ravaged by disease in a relatively short amount of time. One microscopic virus gains access to the body. We may inhale it, or it may enter our body as the result of a bite, through an open wound, or via our digestive system. That virus invades a neighboring healthy cell by injecting its …
Regardless of my best efforts to improve, I have never been gifted with athletic abilities, and as a result, high school gym class was generally a disaster, a forty-five minute exercise in futility. Whether it was swimming, gymnastics, track, or square dancing, my talents and skills were sadly lacking. But then we were offered …