The other Sleeping Lady

“I like seeing the Sleeping Lady,” says Elder Son, leading me to momentary confusion. He and I are sharing my car for a few days, and I am driving him to work. We are just passing the black cliffs between Craig and Klawock, a pair of sister cities on Prince of Wales Island. My son […]

An old family recipe

Imagine, what a snowball effect a few thoughts on baking cookies can have! I wrote in a previous post about a cookbook my sister Laura gave me in 1979, and the wonderful sugar cookie recipe contained therein. Betty, a longtime neighbor, family friend, cousin-by-marriage, and reader of this blog, expressed interest in the recipe that […]

The great peanut butter paradox

The other day I read a meme that made me truly LOL (laugh out loud) as opposed to SALTS (smiled a little, then stopped). This meme said that if you ever wonder just how out of touch with reality you are, then try measuring out an actual serving size of peanut butter. I laughed because […]

Adventures in cookie making

In December of 1979 my sister Laura gave me a cookbook. We had been sharing an apartment in Anchorage Alaska while she worked for a veterinary office and I drifted from pillar to post in the world of waitressing. After six months she was preparing to go back to Powhatan, and I was moving into […]

Will you by my Muse?

I always did love Greek mythology, and as a creative writer I find myself especially attracted to the Muses. These nine sisters are daughters of Zeus (who isn’t?) and the Titan goddess of memory, Mnemosyne. Note that the “m” is silent, and the final “e” is pronounced as a separate syllable. Neh-MAH-sih-ne. Knowing the rules […]

The Trip

Chapter Ten in “Decades with the Squad” by my late father, William Palmer Jervey, Jr. Blogger’s note: In filling in for my inconstant muse, I offer another story from my father’s book. This one, while ending happily, reminds me of a favorite quote, sort of a parent’s lament:                 When they’re little they’re on your […]

The Fire

Chapter Nine in “Decades with the Squad” by my late father, William Palmer Jervey, Jr. The home was a small frame house which was rapidly consumed by the flames. Indeed, so rapid and complete was the destruction that the fire chief became suspicious and called the arson investigator from the State Police. The fact that […]