Barbara Thompson

When the kids were little, I came down every year to take them to the fair. We picked a color, and everyone wore that color. It was fun to see what each person figured out to wear, and we looked good in group pictures. My brother asked if I was coming for the fair this […]

Nancy and I drove down to Kenosha to visit our aunt and uncle. There was lots of traffic and we wouldn’t have made it if I had been driving. Good job, Nancy. (To be clear – I wouldn’t have crashed – I would just have gotten off the road for custard and given up.) We

Nancy woke me up out of a sound sleep. “David is here.” I was very confused. Why? Were we going somewhere? What time was it? What was happening? I sleep in the basement on the 40+ year old fold out couch. In the very dark. In the coolness. It is great. I came out of

My brother, David, invited us all to come to his house for a viewing of the movie Dare To Dream: the Alan Kulwicki Story. The movie came out in 2005 and told the story of car racer Alan Kulwicki. Kulwicki was a native of Milwaukee, and the movie was filmed around Milwaukee. It also co-starred

So, we were playing a board game and I looked across the table at my sister, Donna, and asked, “Which one of us is Grace and which one of us is Frankie?” Grace and Frankie is a Netflix show with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin about two old women who are nothing alike, sharing a

And it did! I was thrilled and delighted. Everything is so dry. Donna and Michael came last night, and when I came down this morning, Donna was out looking at flowers, enjoying her morning tea. It started sprinkling, so we sat under cover by the hot tub. Michael joined us. It started to rain harder.

Who knew? Keith was asked to sub in a big band playing at the Mall of America. He asked if there would be a rehearsal. Nope. Just show up and play. That kind of stuff weirds me out. I could never. But then, I could never be in a band anyway, so it is beside

Moving to our house with a pool was a straight up good idea. We have no regrets. I love swimming and floating every day that I can. But the very best thing I have gotten from having a pool is a new friend. Our first summer here, I offered open pool Wednesdays to people I

I have been thinking we should have a block party since we moved here. I thought someone who had been here longer than us would take charge. Nope. This is our fifth summer and there have been no gatherings. I decided earlier this year that I was going to take charge. National Night Out is

Every year, when our front yard sherbet-colored flowers bloom, I find tiny little frogs sitting in the blossoms. I do not see the tiny little frogs any time or anywhere else. I do not see big frogs that look like the tiny, not scary frogs. Every day, I go out and look for tiny frogs.