I interviewed my Aunt Connie back in 1993, using a little cassette recorder sitting on her kitchen table.
Category Archives: Blog posts
Jean Larson interview on May 30, 2018
I asked my Mom a bunch of questions about her life and she had a lot to say. After we were done, she added, “I really liked to darn socks. The little cross stitches.” That didn’t make it into the recording.
Interview Mom 5-30-2018
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why are you doing this?”
Regal Blend is my barbershop quartet. We go out singing Valentines on February 14. While we’re traveling around town, we like to visit schools and sing for the chorus classes, to give them a little demonstration of what adults do for fun. The classes enjoy the change of pace, and we can do a little tutorial on barbershop singing.
Of course, the first thing we do when we get to a school is report to the office to check in. As long as we’re there, we sing for the secretaries and administration. It always draws a crowd, and not so subtly shows that people keep on singing long after they leave school.
One of the students this year asked that question above. I mumbled and stammered about how much fun it was. But she made me think about it. There are more reasons than “fun” to sing in a quartet, a chorus, a band, even alone in the shower. Continue reading “Why are you doing this?”
Robert Siegel and the Polish polka band from Wisconsin
Every summer in Washington DC the Smithsonian Institution puts on a big Folklife Festival cultural show in the National Mall. They feature cultures and countries from all around the USA and the world. As it happened, Wisconsin’s 150th anniversary as a state was 1998, and Wisconsin was one of the featured cultures that year. Continue reading Robert Siegel and the Polish polka band from Wisconsin
Clean Temp Starter
We were at a beer festival in Fond du Lac Wisconsin serving out some of our local brewery’s samples, along with our own home made beers and meads, when a slightly intense gray haired gentleman in a beer-themed baseball cap tottered up to us and intoned “Clean. Temp. Starter.”
Then he nodded and looked as if he had delivered the secrets of the universe, waiting for us to acknowledge the blessings of his bountiful wisdom. Continue reading Clean Temp Starter
About Us
We are all one people. We are home.
We are all in this together and the more clearly we see it the better off we all will be.
The sun rises, so also do spirits. The sun is implacable in his path. Some spirits are rising faster and higher than others. It’s nothing to get all proud of. Or envious of.
Rank and privilege and riches and power are there for those who devote themselves to finding them. Peace and love and happiness likewise are all there as well for those who devote themselves to finding them.
Heart Washing in Japan
Heart Washing in Japan
The trip started long before I actually left. Sam was in Japanese language class in Okinawa and had a month off for summer vacation, like all schools in Japan do, and asked if anyone could come visit. I took a hard look at my bank account and said Yes. Continue reading Heart Washing in Japan
What Number Cousin Were You Again?
What Number Cousin Were You Again?
Or, how to amaze your relatives with little known and mostly useless facts.
Okay, before I start, it’s true that some of today’s blended families make the idea of half-siblings and second cousins kind of moot, and maybe a little annoying or even a bit offensive. Regardless, I push on. Most of the structure for this came from reading an article in the Farmer’s Almanac some years ago, and the picture stuck in my head well enough so that I can share it around and make – hopefully – sense. Continue reading What Number Cousin Were You Again?
Deer Hunting in Wisconsin
Deer Hunting in Wisconsin
By Joe Larson
© 2013
By Joe Larson
© 2013
Caution: there’s no lewd language, sex, drugs, or rock and roll here, although there is some violence and bloody gory parts. Continue reading Deer Hunting in Wisconsin
1864 Civil War Letter
1864LetterPage2and3a 1864LetterPage1and4a
We found this letter from a Civil War soldier in an old family Polyglot Bible that belonged to my great grandparents. We’re not sure who the writer is, but it’s a good bet that he was at least an old friend of the family. Sorry about the formatting. The writer didn’t have much truck with spelling, punctuation, or paragraphs. Continue reading 1864 Civil War Letter
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