by Marlene Bumgarner | Nov 1, 2019 | Writing
NaNoWriMo November is National Novel Writing Month, during which thousands of writers attempt to produce 50,000 coherent words in 30 days. Last year I participated, and made very acceptable progress on the novel I’ve had in my head for over a decade. Getting my...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Oct 24, 2019 | Child development, Community, Family, Grandparenting
It Takes An Aunty My granddaughter’s Aunt K.K. came over to help with pumpkin carving this week. She hefted the extra-large pumpkin Bean had selected at the pumpkin patch on to our dining room/craft table and turned it around several times, looking for the best...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Oct 13, 2019 | Aging, Child development, Cooking and Eating, Family, Grandparenting, Nature
The Pumpkin Patch Adventure This was the week Bean and I made our annual pilgrimage to her favorite pumpkin patch. We’ve been doing this together since she was three years old and now she’s eight and knows the routine quite well. “I’ll start...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Oct 6, 2019 | Aging, Family, Travel
What Scares You? After I posted the blog last week showing off my new set of wheels, I received some interesting emails from friends. Some were positive, but others, mostly from readers close to my age, were some variation on these two statements: “How can you...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Sep 29, 2019 | Family, Grandparenting, Travel, Writing
I’m Baaa-aaak! It’s hard to believe, but the last day I posted to this blog was May 14, my mother’s birthday. I had no particular desire or intent to stop writing here, but I was trying to stay focused on the one writing project that had kept me awake at nights...