Janet's Blog

Perhaps I should call it Grandpa's stick bed, or even, Uncle Gary's stick bed, because it probably belonged to one of them first. It was a simple, army-green cot, just a wooden frame with a canvas sling suspended from one side to the other. No one would call it a comfortable bed, by any means, but thousands of army privates, and undoubtedly some officers, too, had used one like it when their only other choice was the cold, hard ground. I'm not sure who first brought it to Grandma's house, but my brother and sister and I often argued about who got to sleep in a sleeping bag on the stick bed, and who had to sleep on the living room couch or share Aunt Ellen's double bed. When we spent a week with Grandma and Grandpa in Bloomfield every summer, Laura and I usually shared the bed in Ellen's room, and Dan usually got Uncle Gary's bed to himself. But, if Mom came to spend a few days, too, or if Aunt Ellen joined us for the week, as she often did, someone g...

From Our House to Yours: Merry Christmas! The house is decorated, inside and out. The presents are under the tree, or in the mail. Levi's band program is a wrap--he played the timpani well. Tobin and Evelyn sang enthusiastically for their Christmas program at church. I've helped the grandkids make some gifts. We've gone caroling. The Christmas Eve practice is scheduled, and family Christmas plans have been made. Now, it's time to reflect on the highlights of this past year, so I can share them with you. Erin was hired as Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Wisconsin in Whitewater, so she and Reed, who celebrated their first wedding anniversary in November, pulled up stakes in Cheyenne, and bought a house in Madison, Wisconsin. Reed is working as the Director of Advancement Services at Edgewood College in Madison. They both like their new jobs, and are enjoying their new location. In August, they joined us for a vacation in beautifu...

Skinny jeans are in style or, perhaps I should say, back in style. When I was a girl, jeans weren't a style choice at all. Some workmen wore them, and farm kids wore them, too, but rarely in town. Jeans were for riding horses--and mucking out the chicken coop. By the late fifties and early sixties, teenage boys were wearing slim fitting jeans, with rolled up cuffs, but girls still wore dresses to school and church. If girls wore jeans at all, they were riding horses--or doing chores. I don't remember when I got my first pair of regular blue jeans, but I'm guessing it was in the late 1960s. Then, they would have been boy's jeans that needed to be tailored to fit me. Mom was the tailor, and I was the picky one. I don't know why I insisted that my jeans should be skinny. I was pretty skinny myself, and the boy's jeans were not, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Mom didn't complain too much about taking a couple of tucks in the waist band, ...