Mutiny!

November 16, 2020Columns, Familysusanmanzke

Rebecca (Becky) was right when she said she did more around the house than her siblings. She started helping when she was a toddler and never stopped.

Months ago, when I started my column recordings I did one about Becky not wanting to go to school. She wasn’t afraid of school. Becky just didn’t want to leave me home. She said that I might need her help with Baby Rachel and toddler Russell–she was right, but I sent her off to school with a hug.

Too bad for Rebecca we never could afford to pay her what she was worth. But I sure appreciated her help through all the years….and even today.

My dad writes about his mother

November 15, 2020Family, Memoriessusanmanzke

This is probably the earliest memory of my dad’s, except for a tiny memory of standing next to his father’s coffin at age 4 and being afraid of the priest.

I also adapted this memory for my novel, Chicken Charlie’s Year, though I did change his age in the book to ten years old.

This short account tells a lot about his mother and his relationship with her.

I hope you enjoyed this reading.

BTW: Mary Jane is an old-fashioned peanut butter- and molasses-flavored taffy-type candy. You can still buy this candy today. I’m not sure about Soldier candy. It might have been chocolates in the shape of soldiers.

A kitchen upgrade

November 14, 2020Columns, Family, funsusanmanzke

My family still remembers this event. It was only the six of us working in the kitchen and it had nothing to do with food.

Good thing I wrote about it in my column. I was wondering when this happened and now my memory has been refreshed.

Russell’s a pumpkin, Becky a princess, Rob is the headless horseman and Rachel is the scarecrow

I wanted to show a photo of the wallpaper but I couldn’t find one of the kitchen except for this Halloween photo from 1982. It was 1984 when we pulled down all that wallpaper and revealed the yellow-painted walls underneath.

A little fun with Car-E

November 13, 2020Car-E, cats, funsusanmanzke

Yesterday, Car-E spent the morning knocking stuff off the table.

All my pens and pencils ended up on the floor, as did the cap of an empty medicine bottle. The bottle soon followed.

This crazy cat kept looking for anything he could knock to the floor. If he didn’t play with it himself, he sent things down for Sunny–that way he can get the dog in trouble. Sunny never takes things off the table our counter.

I trust Sunny.

I do not trust Car-E.