By Barbara J Eikmeier Living in Kansas goes hand in hand with spring storms – usually wind and rain, dramatic thunder, sometimes accompanied by hail, and less often, an actual tornado. On occasion we will see storm chasers on the highway, heading toward the dark spot on the horizon – traveling toward that which we […]
By Barbara J Eikmeier I’ve become a Podcast junkie. It happened rather innocently when, last September, I had eye surgery. For the first 48 hours post-op I had to alternate ice packs 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off while awake. Then I switched to warm compresses for 20 minutes four times a day […]
By Barbara J Eikmeier I have eight siblings. The nine of us were together recently for my dad’s funeral. It was a bittersweet day. My dad was 92 years old and yet, despite the wind, rain, and mud, over 350 people attended his service. The church ladies served lunch at the church hall. They came […]
By Barbara J Eikmeier The Wood Stork lifts off from the edge of the pond. His long slightly curved beak points the way like a menacing weapon, and his shaggy head droops, in sharp contrast to his elegant body. My hostess calls him The Professor. From the lanai I also see the Great Blue Heron, […]
By Barbara J. Eikmeier The Last Waltz was showing at the Sunrise Theater at 730 pm on Thanksgiving night. Our hostess attends every year. I was intrigued. What movie can possibly be so great that a person would go to see it every year? As it turns out, The Last Waltz isn’t an ordinary movie, […]
By Barbara J Eikmeier One of my writing teachers is a poet. I saw him last week in the coffee shop. He wasn’t at his usual table, near the window where the light is best. This day, his table was next to the fireplace, where it’s warmer. Sheets of paper spilled across the table with […]
By Barbara J. Eikmeier My favorite place to find details for a story is on a road trip. My regular job is presenting programs about quilts to small and regional quilt guilds. Bookings take me off the main highways to “Blue Roads”, through tiny communities and sometimes even down dirt roads. Ninety percent of the […]
By Barbara J Eikmeier I was prepping a sheet pan for a dinner of oven roasted veggies when I ran out of non-stick spray. Shaking the container I didn’t hear or feel even a drop sloshing around in the can. In 38 years of marriage, I’ve rarely emptied a can of Pam. It isn’t that […]
By Barbara J. Eikmeier I lift weights. Twice a week my husband and I go to the gym. The nutritionist at the army health clinic told me about the weight training room. She said as we age it is important to do weight bearing exercises to keep our bones strong and joints limber. “Just go […]
By Barbara J. Eikmeier Not long ago while watching the news my husband said, “That lady must have something in her eye, look how she’s blinking.” I watched for a few seconds, noticing her beautiful eye makeup and said, “Nah, she’s doing that because she’s wearing fake eyelashes.” I recognized the rapid blinking from my […]