by Marlene Bumgarner | Feb 2, 2019 | Aging, Child development, Community, Family, Grandparenting, Nature, Travel
Sleepover With Grandma Like many other publicly-funded agencies, the Monterey Bay Aquarium offers a variety of programs to educate their members and to raise funds. One of the most popular is the sleepover, when children and their parents or chaperones are invited to...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Oct 28, 2018 | Aging, Child development, Community, Family, Grandparenting
Pumpkins Are the Key My oldest granddaughter, the one I’ve been calling Bean all these years, is now a string bean. She’s seven and a half and tall and active, both in her body and in her mind. Several of her favorite things to do at Halloween happen...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jul 28, 2018 | Child development, Family, Grandparenting
The Passage of Time I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with time. When I was young, there never seemed to be enough of it. Each year when I was required to select one or two electives from a list of about twenty I anguished over my choices. Couldn’t I take three?...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jul 12, 2018 | Child development, Family, Grandparenting, Writing
Crazy Weather in Santa Cruz The weather in Santa Cruz has been crazy lately. For the past two days the sun has been bright in the sky by 6:30 a.m. and the temperatures have been in the 90s . . . for this beach community, that is very hot. Then, just when I plan my day...
by Marlene Bumgarner | May 25, 2018 | Aging, Community, Family, Grandparenting, Health
Note: The following essay was published May 6 as a guest post on Sixty+Me. I hope you enjoy it. What is Time? “When will Mommy come, Grandma?” my granddaughter used to ask several times a day when she was little. At first I assumed she missed her mother. I’m sure...
by Marlene Bumgarner | May 11, 2018 | Community, Family, Grandparenting
Hallmark Holiday? I’ve been thinking a lot about mothers this week. I know that not everyone likes the idea of special days for different categories of people. Some people think our annual recognition of mothers is nothing but an overly-commercial “Hallmark Holiday.”...