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An IRS Agent for a Fantastic Friday
This Fantastic Friday pays tribute to my father's cousins Garnett Morris and Jeanie Painter. This post was written shortly after Garnett died in September of 2009. This past July Jeanie, Dad's last living cousin, passed away. Too late, I once again wish I'd made...
Mom’s Apple Dumplings
A couple weeks ago, a friend gave us oodles of apples from an apple tree that blew over in the wind. After they were delivered, the Man of Steel helped me freeze a whole bunch of applesauce, 3 apple pies, and 2 dozen apple dumplings. You'll find the recipe for apple...
Top Ten Things to Take to a Speaking Engagement
Fall is conference season, a busy time of year for speakers and workshop presenters. This list will help me–and other speakers–be ready for every possible speaking contingency. 10. Laptop. If you are a wimp, make it a MacBook Air. 9. Mac users, be sure to pack the...
See Jane Make a Pest of Herself
In what may be a first at Down the Gravel Road, this mystery novel update comes less than a month after the previous one. Hard to believe, isn't it? How can a writer, especially one who's been hacking away at this manuscript for 2 1/2 years, make enough progress in...
Pick a Little, Talk a Little this Fantastic Friday
Today's Fantastic Friday post first appeared on Down the Gravel Road in September of 2008. Considering the popularity of a recent listing of ten reasons to watch The Music Man, this article about some very noisy birds in our neighborhood seemed to be a logical choice....
Grandma Conrad’s Never Fail Pie Crust
In the interest of full disclosure, readers should know that the grandma referred to in the title of this post is not and has never been my grandma. However, she is the grandmother of seven of my cousins (our mothers are sisters) on their dad's side of the family. She...