by Marlene Bumgarner | Apr 27, 2015 | Family, Grandparenting
Four Year Old Bean was having trouble transitioning from Mommy to Grandma, and after a tearful good bye, three hugs and a kiss, she laid herself out, prostrate, on my front porch, proclaiming loudly “I don’t care about anybody but Mommy!” Knowing she...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Apr 20, 2015 | Aging, Community, Family, Grandparenting
As I ate my breakfast granola one morning last week, a Today Show host read from her teleprompter: “New research tells us that since life expectancy continues to rise, age 60 should no longer be considered old. Sixty is the new 40.” A simple statement, one that...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Apr 13, 2015 | Community, Family, Grandparenting
When I was about eight, my parents spent a weekend helping some friends prepare their family farm for an estate sale. While the adults sorted, stacked, and scoured, the children were left to roam free. I remember climbing into a hay loft that first day, eating my fill...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Apr 6, 2015 | Family, Grandparenting
In 1975 our friend Nina came to live with us. At the time we were farming a piece of rural land along with a handful of friends, and Nina was looking for the peace and quiet we had in quantity. She settled in quickly, and soon was growing a vegetable patch,...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Apr 4, 2015 | Cooking and Eating, Family, Grandparenting
I love Spring, and when I was growing up, Easter was the big spring celebration in our house. Even when money was tight, I always had new shoes and a new dress (When we lived on Aunt Sadie’s chicken ranch, it was made from a flowered cotton feed sack, and my...