"Foster! Is that you?" I was standing in dismay, looking down the street where Panda had disappeared around the corner, when I heard my name. "Foster! What are you doing here in Tokyo?" Imagine my surprise when I turned and there was a penguin with sunglasses on, standing beside me! "Who are you?" I asked …
"Hiii-Ya! I heard Panda's voice from the ironing board and looked down at him, puzzled. "Umm...excuse me?" I said. "Would you mind telling me what you're doing down there?" "I'm practicing my karate moves," Panda responded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Watch this!" He executed a flawless flip and …
Christmas on the Western Front If you've read "(Not) Home for Christmas, Part 1", you've seen this photo, and you also know how Emil and the Augustana bandsmen had spent Christmas of 1917. Christmas, 1918 found Emil "billeted" with the Bougnot family in Doulaincourt, Hte Marne, with Theo Lenz as a roommate. The Armistice had …
"Remember the last time we went to outer space?" I asked the question as we were reminiscing about our first time in space. Panda was silent for a moment. "Yeah," he replied at length. "That was a wild trip!" I looked at him, raising my eyebrows. "Only because you got lost in space," I pointed …
"Date of birth?" "Seven, twelve, fifty-one." I quoted this phrase so many times throughout the final five years of my husband's life that sometimes I automatically started to say that instead of "Nine, sixteen, fifty-eight" when asked for my own date of birth. I would often be the "spokesperson" when we would be at his …
"Panda!" Foster exclaimed. "How did you get down there?" "Well, I'm not positive," I replied, trying not to sound irritated. "But I think it's safe to say somebody pushed me off the chair." "Aww, I'm sorry buddy," Foster replied sheepishly. "I didn't realize I was taking up the whole chair. Are you okay?" "Umm..." I …
My father was a man of many talents, as well as many interests. Recently, his antique bottle collection has found its way to me. What you are looking at here is a very small sampling of the bottles I now have at my house. When I was little, my dad and my uncles used to …
Newspapers From the Past, Part 2 This is Stengrim and Charlotte Detlie, in a photo I can only guess is from the 1920s. You've seen their wedding photo in "Daddy and Some Babies" and "The Rest is History". Charlotte was my Grandma Edla Johnson's mother, and Stengrim was her stepfather. Edla's father Nels Nelson was …
It has occurred to me since I wrote "Just Add Water", Parts 1, 2, and 3, (which mainly focused on my "garden sphere experiments"), that this title would work just as well for a post about the back yard plants. Yes, I have realized that if you want plants to grow properly, you have to …
"So, Panda, do you mind telling me where you've been all afternoon?" I admit I was a little surprised that Foster would even ask that. I hadn't thought he would notice I was gone. "Well," I began calmly, unruffled by this untoward interrogation. "I was at Fig Garden with Mom and Aunt Gail." "Seriously?" Foster …