Month: November 2017

It is hard to believe that the song/poem was written in 1844 by an excited young New England boy who couldn’t wait to get to Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.    It was a tradition.

I remember that excitement too, when as a child, my folks and siblings drove through snow, over roads and bridges, crossed Highway 10, and down a couple long dirt roads before pulling into Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house. Cousins from Waite Park and Iowa as well as aunts and uncles traveled their distances too to share this holiday with loved ones. Along with a huge dish that was replenished often before the actual feast began, we gathered around the fold away tables and talked, laughed, and giggled.  It was our tradition.

Join vendors, crafts people, and artists at the Long Prairie Arts and Crafts Show and Tell tomorrow from 9-4.  I’ll be selling and signing my books, and we will be selling Jennie’s Clearwater Apothecary Pure & Simple products–creams, lotions, soaps, and balms!  If you haven’t done so already, make it a tradition!  

November 18, 1307, is  a famous date for history lovers…This day in history it is alleged that the Swiss-born William Tell  shot the apple off his son’s head.   In a nutshell, apparently Bill refused to bow before the hat of a Habsburg ruler and was ordered to be killed unless he shot an apple off his son’s head.  An expert bows man, he did that and more–he split the apple in half, thus saving his life and his son’s.  Unfortunately, Tell was a rebel and big talker and swore that if he’d have killed his son, he would have turned the bow on the ruler.  After being taken prisoner, he escaped chains, killed a ruler, and eventually led a revolt against the Habsburg governance.

So what is this history lesson all about?  Lots of events linked to November 18–and one is in Clearwater, Minnesota, this Saturday at the Lions’ Bldg in Lions’ Park on Highway 75.   The 2nd annual arts and crafts sale will be held at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  There will be crafts, wood products, and direct sales items, arts and décor, and ME and my sister! Totally bad English-speak for a retired English teacher.  We will be there though–I’ll be selling Clearwater books, signing as well, and sis will be selling Jennie Phillips’ Pure & Simple products–lotions, creams, balms, soaps, and a host of Clearwater memorabilia. 

Check out the site–you may have to copy and past in the URL.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159232339940538&set=pcb.1761076793956647&type=3&theater

The following Saturday, two days after Thanksgiving, Sis nd I, along with a friend,  will be in Long Prairie, MN, for another a/c even

https://allevents.in/long%20prairie/art-and-craft-fair-at-long-prairie-high-school/351325448647855

I’ve heard that this is also a fun and large event to attend.  I’m not sure if there will be any competition you can join in on with crossbows and apples, but you may hit the bull’s eye and bring home bargains galore and as you take  shot at your Christmas shopping list.

Hope to see you at either or both events.

The other night I saw a recent, 2017 film about Helen Reddy. I remember her standing thin and tall singing, “I am woman . . .hear me roar . . .I am invincible . . .I am strong!”  I was so surprised, though, to see how she had changed because I’d never kept up with her success. She is nine years older than I am. What did I expect?  I haven’t been thin for 35 years.  If I hadn’t been coloring my hair, it would be gray like hers.  She is probably still tall–I haven’t a clue–but she has “grown,” as the song goes, in a number of ways.   She states she is happy with how she has turned out, feeling as though she has turned into the woman she sang about in the 60/70’s.  “I am woman,” which she wrote, became a mantra for the women’s movement. 

She is still active in women’s empowerment, attending, singing, supporting, and speaking at conventions, conferences, and marches around the world.

Most of us have had an opportunity to see on television how some women are coming forward, finally, to indict those who have hurt them. It’s amazing what women can do when they stand together.  There’s power in numbers.  And, yes, it is time to whip the bullies, the woman bashers, the sexual perverts–anyone who hurts others.

Scruples & Drams and my upcoming novel, a sequel to Jennie’s story, Needles & Pins, Maude’s story, promotes strong women. These women stand up for other women who are caught in trouble–trouble they can’t handle by themselves.

This weekend, Sat.,November 4, I’ll be selling Scruples & Drams, Around Clearwater, and Postcards from the Old Man at the Monticello Women of Today Fall Craft show in the Monticello Community Center from 9-3.  The address is 505 Walnut St # 4, Monticello, MN 55362. 

My sister, her friend Pam, and I will be setting up Clearwater Apothecary with all sort of products Jennie Phillips would have made or sold in her shop–such as her famous Pure & Natural, wild rose facial cream, dry hand rub, skin lotions, soaps, cards, bags, and crocheted hats, gloves, and scarves.  

Come out and support the Women of Today!