Archives
Endings: A Soprano’s Aria Chapter 36
Posted on March 27, 2022 2 Comments

The above is the last regular entry in the diary. However the page below was from 1913, and it predates the first entry in the dairy which was September 1st 1913. So in a remarkable way we arrive back at the beginning.
Hands in the Mud: Writing Challenge
Posted on March 27, 2022 3 Comments

I was daydreaming about mud which led to this piece of writing. I will have some writing suggestions at the end. “Learn to humble yourself, you are but earth and clay.” Thomas a Kempis When I was a kid we made mud pies. The best mud was made from dirt with lots of clay in […]
Registered at UC Berkeley: A Soprano’s Aria Chapter 35
Posted on March 21, 2022 Leave a Comment
Feb. 14 – Life was some what of a drag all around. I have all my notes to show that I attended class regularly and made good marks. Finished textiles and took up a short course in Psycology Also a few private lessons in dress drafting from Mrs. Percival. Feb. 23 – Jessie went to […]
Catch & Release, Word Fishing: Writing Challenge
Posted on March 20, 2022 2 Comments
“Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.” Ralph Waldo Emerson If fishing is a metaphor for writing, the title is the bait. I often start with the title. It’s setting the hook, attracting the reader, but it has another purpose. It sets the scope and determines what it is I am hoping to write […]
The Culmination of a Long Dream: A Soprano’s Aria Chapter 34
Posted on March 19, 2022 Leave a Comment
Editor’s note this chapter is of particular interest to me as it recounts Lulu’s perspective in her meeting of her son Milo’s girlfriend, my grandmother Carrie Henager Nov 12 — Yesterday Jessie and I went down to the auditorium to hear a very fine program in Memoriam to the American Army. When we got home […]
Writing the Tough Stuff: Writing Challenge
Posted on March 16, 2022 5 Comments
After writing several of the last few blog posts I had to ask myself—what’s this with all this writing about loss? And I don’t have an answer, but I suspect the impetus to handle the tough topics has to do with the war in Ukraine. Seeing death and destruction causes me to wonder about all […]
My Sister is Gone, But still I Smile
Posted on March 14, 2022 10 Comments

I don’t know how old I was when I realized I shared her name. I don’t know when I came to know of her existence –though it would have been difficult not to feel her presence. A ghost–never seen–but still ever present. She was the sister I never knew, though we shared the same name.
The Days Are Passing Swiftly by and I Am One Day Nearer Home: A Soprano’s Aria Chapter 32
Posted on March 5, 2022 1 Comment
“I am now about to retire it is nearly midnight beautiful and cool and moonlit.”
My Woman Warrior: Pioneer Mother Catherine Adeline Stewart Murphy Mosier
Posted on February 28, 2022 6 Comments

The impetus for this blog post was my writing challenge to resurrect one of your women warriors. A woman in your tree whose story lies hidden in the names, dates and places. I have spent the last few weeks on Catherine. I offer this as an example of what is possible to resurrect a woman […]
Write It Down
Posted on February 28, 2022 6 Comments
Aside from DNA, which I view as our personal encyclopedia of our ancestry, anything that is going to survive more than a generation or two is WRITTEN. Whether on a gravestone, an engraving, a letter, a newspaper clipping, photos or a book. What survives is written or inscribed. An unidentified photo of an ancestor is […]