by Marlene Bumgarner | Dec 28, 2016 | Aging, Christmas in Yorkshire, Cooking and Eating, England, Family, Grandparenting
Our Tree is Down I’m quietly celebrating the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Because I will soon be driving south, I have already taken down my decorations, and today I will put them in boxes and back in the garage until next year. I love this...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Nov 2, 2016 | Aging, Child development, Cooking and Eating, Family, Grandparenting, Travel
Packing Activities in a Suitcase One of the topics we discussed at our second Grandparent Meetup was how to nurture relationships with grandchildren who live far away. Favorites were frequent visits, FaceTime and Skype conversations, affectionate notes mailed...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Sep 20, 2016 | Aging, Child development, Family, Grandparenting, Travel
Do you remember what it was like the first time you watched a city recede beneath you, the houses and cars and people becoming smaller and smaller? I had forgotten, but I remembered last weekend as my granddaughter pressed her nose to the cold glass trying to get as...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Sep 5, 2016 | Aging, Community, Family, Grandparenting, Health, Nature, Travel
Two Grandmothers Went for a Hike Sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn’t it? But it isn’t — it’s what my friend Ginny and I did last Friday. Ginny and I are usually in a seniors circuit class on Friday mornings (also on Mondays and...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jul 25, 2016 | Aging, Family, Grandparenting, Travel
Musings I’m in the Seattle-Tacoma Airport waiting for a plane that has been delayed six hours out of Houston, and I’m thinking about grandparenting. Or more accurately, I am thinking about the ways that one generation overlaps into the next and how...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jun 27, 2016 | Aging, Family, Grandparenting, Travel, Writing
Jet Lag When I first returned from Greece, I fell into the abyss that is jet lag. It lasted for nearly a week. Then it morphed into an extended period of lethargy that I couldn’t explain or shake. While we were in Greece, writer Laura Davis led three-hour...