Jim and I affectionately call our 3 acres of land here in Fairview ‘The Kiser Ranch.’ I took this picture one morning as the sun came over the horizon. You would be hard pressed to get a more picturesque view from a bedroom window. It reminds me a little of when several of us took a road trip to Alpine, Texas in 2013 to attend a Cowboy Poetry Gathering there. There were just three of us gals, back then: Marianne Hunt, Nancy Redd and yours truly. Here are some of the sights we enjoyed:...

True confession: there’s always been a part of me who wishes I had been born in Ireland. I’m not sure where that pie in the sky dream came from, but it stayed with me. Since I’m so mesmerized by the Irish, this month’s newsletter will focus on that country. A little trivia here: The color representing Ireland used to be blue, throughout history, but in 1798, green would be deemed the proper color to celebrate Irish heritage. Shamrocks and four-leaf clovers are symbols of luck in Ireland...

Mailboxes It’s surprising how deeply childhood memories impact us. I remember when I attended second grade at Shirley Hills Elementary School in Mound, Minnesota. My fondest memory was when our class had a Valentine’s Day party. I don’t remember if we had cupcakes to celebrate the event, but what I do recall were the awesome Valentine’s Day mailboxes we made from shoeboxes we decorated. To be clear, back then in the 1950s, it wasn’t as though children had a plethora of shoe boxes to choose...