by Marlene Bumgarner | Oct 20, 2022 | Aging, Child development, Community, Cooking and Eating, Family, Grandparenting
Pumpkin Patch Traditions Long-time readers know that when I lived in Santa Cruz my oldest granddaughter and I enjoyed visiting a pumpkin patch each October. As the years passed, I watched little Bean progress in her relationship with the pumpkins. At first, she just...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jun 25, 2022 | Aging, Child development, Family, Grandparenting
Saying Goodbye to my Granddaughter One might ask – what is there to grieve about? No one has died. No one is even sick – this week – thank heavens. No one has abandoned me. But I’m grieving just the same. My daily care of baby Brighton, my...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Mar 27, 2022 | Aging, Child development, Community, Family, Grandparenting
A New Grandchild My first thought when my oldest daughter told me she was expecting my first grandchild was “at last!” I was sixty-four years old, with four adult children more focused on their careers than on starting families. Most of my friends were already...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jan 29, 2022 | Aging, COVID19, Family, Grandparenting
A Break from Sheltering in Place Christmas 2020 I spent two weeks at my son’s home in southern California. We had taken all the precautions. Everyone tested negative. The gardener and the housekeeper were given two weeks off. I drove door to door with only one...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jan 15, 2022 | Community, Cooking and Eating, Family, Gardening, Grandparenting, Health
Explore Your Local Market In the last decade, millions of people have altered their buying habits and now purchase some food from CSAs, farmers’ markets, and grocery stores that specialize in locally grown, unsprayed, and unprocessed produce and grains, sustainable...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jan 1, 2022 | Child development, Family, Grandparenting
New Year’s Day I left lots of space in my New Year’s weekend. No agenda, no schedule, no plans. The New Year is all about making a new start. I began by clearing away all the Christmas clutter, writing thank you cards, and taking a long walk in the crisp...