Category Archives: family

A View of Christmas Past: Wrapping Paper

December 13, 2019 David Todd 1 Comment

Unlike my parents, we don’t have a dedicated space for stashing reused paper for future use.

I don’t know how many families made this a practice. Possibly every family who had parents who came of age in the Great Depression did this. I’m talking about re-using wrapping paper from one year in future years.

Yes, wrapping paper used to wrap gifts. For children.

Our storeroom shelves have many Christmas decorations, but not re-used wrapping paper.

As far back as my memories go, which might be to 5 or 6 years old, we always unwrapped our gifts in a way that minimized damage to the wrapping paper so that it could be used again. We gently slid a finger under the Scotch tape, removing it with the hopes of not damaging the surface it had been attached to, then folded it underneath the paper so the loose end wouldn’t do more damage. Do this with every piece of tape on the package. Remove the paper. Set it aside. Take some time with the gift. Go on to the next one. Repeat.

By the end of the day, the papers were all stacked and brought to the basement and put on a shelf.

On the other hand, we have plenty of Christmas decorations we no longer use. Will have to clear them out someday.

The next year, whenever anyone, parent of child, wrapped a present, they went first to that shelf in the basement and looked for a used piece of paper. Try to get one that’s not bigger than you need, and of course not smaller. Use it again. Go on to the next present.

The new tradition. Who put a wooly mammoth in my Christmas village?

Year after year this was our practice. I imagine each year our parents bought at least one new roll, but mostly we used the old paper. Sometimes you would be given a gift on Christmas day and recognize the paper. “Oh, I remember last year I used this paper to wrap….” Each year some papers would get smaller and smaller as you trimmed away damaged places or—heaven forbit—you couldn’t find a piece the right size and used one way too big and cut it in two.

Even ribbon and bows were reused in my childhood. We still do that with bows, but not ribbon.

This was actually a fun part of our Christmas traditions.

Of course, I wasn’t able to continue that into adult life. Oh, I still unwrap gifts in that manner, but I never forced my children to do the same. I tried, and to some extent they did it. But we didn’t have a whole shelf in the basement or storeroom dedicated to used Christmas paper.

Time marches on. We have new traditions now when the kids come home. There’s the hidden Chex Mix that they have to find somewhere in the house if they want to have any. The last few years there’s been the Christmas village that has all sorts of toys added to it. Grandpa protests, but not too hard. It started years ago when our oldest grandchild added a toy rock to the village, and it’s expanded from there. The last year or two I hid that toy rock, but not too much hidden. They found it and added it to the village.

Christmases past, present, and future. Memories were and are being made, and recalled and enjoyed over and over.

Christmas, family, home improvements

The Holiday Crunch Time Has Begun

November 8, 2019 David Todd Leave a comment

Yesterday we began the big clean-up. Not just of clutter. We’ve actually been doing a relatively good job the last few months of not letting the clutter get away from us. No, this is the Big Clean-up, the kind that requires hours and takes a lot of concentration and effort.

Maybe I should say the Big Preparation, because after the clean-up comes decorating for Christmas. I’m not one to decorate early for Christmas, but this year everyone is coming for Thanksgiving. We want to be decorated for Christmas, so that’s a big amount of work.

Yesterday we began this all. The main concern is the carpet in the public places of the house, which is in much need of shampooing. But first, of course, we had to dust and vacuum. We did the dusting in the main public areas, and vacuumed the dining room, hall bathroom, and main traffic ways between rooms. I then did the shampooing in the rooms that I vacuumed. I figure on doing this in three or four segments, allowing us to move about the house with minimal restrictions while the carpet is drying.

This morning I checked, and the carpet looks good where I worked yesterday. I see one spot I may need to re-do; I’ll have to wait until the sun is more fully on it. But, at first look I’m pleased.

Today, the living room. Tomorrow the entryway. After that, Christmas decorations commence. Writing takes a back seat for a little while.

Bible study, Danny Tompkins Short Stories, family, home improvements, Preserve The Revelation, research, The Teachings, Writing

Weekend Company

October 18, 2019 David Todd 2 Comments

The view from my ladder, five steps up. The limb looks large in this photo, but that’s deceiving. It was only 3 to 4 inches diameter.

After writing about a difficult weekend last weekend, I had a good week. That blah Monday turned out to be restful, and I recovered. It was almost as if my day of rest was Monday instead of Sunday. I hope they all won’t be like that as I teach this lesson series. I teach again this Sunday, so we’ll see how it goes.

I did some good work on the Leader’s Guide for Acts Or Faith. It’s far from finished, but I feel much better about it than I did even five days ago. I took my notes prepared for teaching last Sunday—the Introduction to the book—and worked them into that chapter of the Leader’s Guide. I went on to two more chapters, and am now well-along on Chapter 11.

I attended critique group Wednesday evening. We had five writers present, no visitors. Four of us shared, and we had good discussions. I shared the first four pages of “Tango Delta Foxtrot”, the next short story in my Sharon Williams Fonsesca series. I’m 2,000 words into it, heading to somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000. I hope to work a little on that in the days ahead.

I began a new activity in my daily routine: an hour or so of yard work in the late morning. Perhaps I should say I resumed that activity, for I was doing that last spring. After the late-August storm, I worked on the wood lot north of our house, clearing away the debris left after two large trees fell. Now it looks almost like a wooded, leaf-covered park. I’m now doing the same with the woodlot on the south side. This had two smaller trees down, and much deadfall from normal tree life. This is actually a much bigger job. I’ve spent four mornings on it.

On Wednesday, with all the large limbs removed, I decided to get up on a ladder and cut away a broken limb on a tree close to the house. I’m sure certain family members would be aghast at my leaning a ladder against a tree I was cutting on and then getting five steps up on that ladder. But, it was just a 3 to 4 inch limb, nothing major Having only a small, folding pruning saw that would fit the place where I wanted to cut. I got it done, taking frequent rests. It was a task accomplished that make me feel good about my work.

Speaking of tasks accomplished, on Wednesday I had this comment on my Facebook author’s page.

“Preserve The Revelation” is terrific! Each book in the series stands alone. So many authors constantly “explain” what happened in the previous book or you won’t understand the story, which I find irritating. Watching for #3 publication!”

Good feedback on this. Though fourth in the series chronologically, it is the second published, in March 2017.

It’s great to get positive feedback, especially from one who’s now reading a third book of mine. This spurred me on to work a little on the third book in the series (numbers 1, 2, and 4 currently published; she’s reading #4). For over a week I’ve been reading for research and making good progress, learning a lot. Wednesday, after reading that comment, I spent an hour making an outline of book #3, tentatively titled The Teachings. It stands at just a notebook page in length, but it’s a start.

I don’t intend on writing this book until I finish “TDF”, and perhaps one more short story in the Danny Tompkins series. Perhaps a December start is most likely. Between now and then I’ll search my various paper piles for two or three pages of notes I made earlier this year on the book, each time starting from scratch. I’ll see what my earlier thoughts were and whether I remembered them and worked them into my outline.

Speaking of various paper piles, we have company coming today for an overnight stay, one of Lynda’s cousins and her husband. The clean-up of the house and yard started yesterday, and will consume much of today before they arrive. The paper piles have to go, along with other clutter.

So, I end this. I hope all who read this had a good, productive, satisfying week, and will experience the same in the weekend ahead. See you in my post on Monday.

family, memories, travel, Writing

Back In The Saddle

August 12, 2019 David Todd Leave a comment

Here’s what I looked out on from my chair on the porch.

Or, rather, back in my chair, at my computer, with my books and tools around me, ready to write—or in the week, mainly edit.

My wife and I were away for a little over a week. This was scheduled, then changed. Our son-in-law was to go on a mission trip to Mexico and we were to go to Big Spring, Texas, and help our daughter with the kids. The mission trip was canceled, a fairly last minute thing, due to not having the minimum number of people necessary to make it happen. They decided to get away for a few days instead and asked us to join them. We agreed, with the time commitment being a little shorter than the mission trip would have been.

Fishing wasn’t what I most wanted to do.

The trip was to Ruidoso area in New Mexico. I had never heard of this resort area, up in the mountains. South of Albuquerque, west of Roswell, it’s pretty high up. We had a rental house at elevation 6950 feet. It’s monsoon season, and we had rains all but one day. It didn’t really slow us down at all. Daytime temperatures were 75 to 85 when it wasn’t raining, nighttime lows were 57 to 62. Very pleasant.

The wife and I did very little planning for this trip. We were supposed to drive to Texas on Friday August 2 then drive with them to New Mexico, a five hour drive, on Saturday August 3. But at the last minute we left the afternoon of Thursday Aug 1, intending to pull up at their door after midnight. A wrong turn in Wichita Falls means we didn’t get in until 3 in the morning. Alas.

The trip was nice and relaxing. Our rental house was just the right size for us. Richard took his older boys fishing a couple of days. I’m not into fishing so didn’t join them. I wanted to hike. I went on four of them all together. One on Sunday in the neighborhood with grandson Ezra, 1.57 miles. One Monday at Grindstone Lake with my daughter, her two youngest, and my wife, 2.45 miles. One Tuesday at a Federal recreation area, with most of the family, 1.56 miles. One Wednesday (the day we were leaving to

Elijah panning for gold at the Flying J Ranch.

come home), up a hill near our house with the two oldest grandsons, 1.25 miles without a trail. And a different one back at that recreation area, 1.61 miles. None of them were overly strenuous, but had uphill segments where I had to stop on occasion.

The house with the red roof is the one we rented, as seen from the nearby hill we hiked up on Wednesday.

On Sunday we went to a church, not knowing it was next to one of our denominational campgrounds and that they were just finishing a week of family camp. So we attended a camp meeting type service. We then drove up to a ski area to ride the gondolas, but they had closed due to rain. I’m not a fan of mountain roads, but we did okay.

Plenty of deer came by our cabin, this one right up to be fed.

When not engaged with grandkids, I did a little editing in my completed books, did some reading (as described in my last post), though I found the reading hard going, too intellectual, I suppose, for reading in somewhat distracted conditions. Still, I enjoyed cool mornings or evenings on the porch, coffee and book or e-reader at hand, soaking in both knowledge and clean, mountain air.

I was on the hike too, but took the photo.

Ruidoso is a place I would like to go back to. We found out what was available in the Smokey Bear Ranger District, specifically the Cedar Creek Recreational Area, which included camping, picnicking, biking, and hiking. Several longer trails are available which I would like to hike. Perhaps we’ll go back some day, and make some more memories.

family, miscellaneous, Writing

De-Cluttering Is Hard

July 26, 2019 David Todd 6 Comments

This is less than half of the total volume of stamp collections I’m dealing with.

About a year ago Lynda and I came to the realization that we had to begin decluttering. Maybe that realization came longer ago than that, but it wasn’t strong enough to begin taking actions toward making it happen.

Then, in May of this year, when we had to move a bunch of stuff to make way for workers to do a certain task, we saw the stuff being moved was the fruit of over-accumulation and un-noticed hanging on. De-cluttering was suddenly real. We couldn’t just talk about it and think that no longer accumulating meant we were de-cluttering. We had to actually get rid of stuff.

The stamp boxes Dad made. When the collection goes these will stay, and be repurposed.

So, since then, we’ve actually been getting rid of some stuff. Perhaps not fast enough and not enough, but we are actually getting rid of stuff. We put out an old exercise bike for a special trash pick-up this week. It’s a bike that worked but which we never used as we have a better one. Wednesday I took a load of electronic items to the County solid waste center. I also took the old microwave that died back in April. That felt good.

About two weeks ago I started tackling the stamp collection. Or rather, collections, for I have three here. I’ve written before about how stamp collecting was a big part of our growing up. From the time I was 8, for the next ten years barely a day went by that we didn’t work on stamps. Our albums grew large. Dad built stamp boxes out of old TV cabinets from Uncle Kenny’s shop. Before long these overflowed, as did our large Harris Citation albums.

I continued collecting into adulthood, but not in a very organized way. We bought the new stamps as they came out and “sort of” filed them. We bought used stamps from dealers and put them in albums. We saved all stamps that came into the house. We soaked stamps off paper and put them in shoe boxes. In short, we did everything we had done when I was growing up.

Mom used to sit by the hour and bundle stamps by the hundreds, which she used for trading with dealers for stamps we needed.

We couldn’t get our kids interested in it. I eventually lost interest when the pull of career and other interests came on. Two periods of overseas living, with the stamps in storage in the USA and us wondering if they would survive their boxed exile, helped to lessen the desire. By the mid-1990s the collection was in boxes, in closets or the garage, unseen and untouched.

Then, when Dad died in 1997 we had all the stamps in his house to deal with. I was the one designated by the will to handle the collections, so we packed them into our van and brought them to Arkansas, to rest beside their cousins in other boxes. Then, in 2001, my brother made a visit here and brought his stamp collection with him, asking me to sell it when I sold the others.

The stock book I worked on last night. I still have a few stragglers to add to it (which fell out before my work commenced), plus perhaps some re-distribution.

We’ve known since then that the collections would some day be sold, but sitting down to organize everything seemed to be so big a job that I didn’t want to devote the time to it. Every now and then I did some internet searches about selling stamps, but that was it as far as actually working on them. The stamps continued to sit. I decided there was no point in trying to interest the grandchildren it stamp collecting.

Fast forward now to May of this year. Stamps were pulled from different places. I realized the time had come to do something. The first task was to bring them all together. I did this, and found the work massive. But slowly I’ve been doing more on it. Over the last two weeks I:

Separated the catalogues and how-to books from the 1960s out and put them in a separate pile. I think it’s unlikely any dealer or individual who might buy them (if, indeed, I find there’s any market for stamp collections, which I’m questioning).
Separated out what are really nothing but recyclable materials, such as sheets of cardboard, old envelopes, plastic bins from old cookie boxes used for sorting stamps, etc. I have a pile of these that I’ll get rid of before long.
Putting all the sheets of new stamps together and then into a mint-sheet notebook or a small box. I got that done last week, realized the notebook was bulging and something else was needed. On Wednesday I came up with a better solution and completed that on Thursday.
Organizing a stock book of duplicates. I’m not sure why, some years ago, I put this book together. But now it’s over-stuffed and bulging. Yet, it had empty pages. Yesterday I tackled it and found that the bulging was due to a poor distribution of stamps in the book. Yesterday afternoon and evening I put all my time into reworking that book, and found the stamps all fit with only minor bulging—and I still have some empty space in it. I may be able to eliminate that bulging if I spend all my time this evening on it.

So, where does this leave me? I should have all the stamps organized and stored in one place by this time next week, maybe sooner. I’ll discard/place for recycling those things that are no longer needed. I’ll check with one person who I think might want my brother’s collection. Then, I’ll break off to do some other things. I have two books in progress that I’m doing a little on simultaneously, but a little more concentrated effort and I’ll be able to finish and publish them.

It was easy to accumulate over 45 years of adulthood and 43 years of marriage. De-cluttering, which really means de-accumulating, is proving hard. I’m sure I’ll shed a few tears when the stamps leave my possession, not to storage, but for the last time. At that time I’ll tell myself “Better with someone else than put in my coffin with me.”

America, Documenting America, family

The Heckler’s Veto

April 22, 2019 David Todd Leave a comment

I haven’t said much about this recently, but our son is Dean of Students at the Law School at the University of Chicago. He’s been slowly working his way up through university administration since he earned his PhD in 2011, a degree he worked long and hard for.

In past positions (not at the Law School) he’s had a lot of interesting things come up, such as a student who presented letters saying he was a C.I.A. operative and therefore needed some type of special treatment. Or such as the student who forged her admission papers, showed up at registration, and tried to force her way into enrollment and housing. Some things weren’t so benign, such as student deaths to deal with when Dean on Call.

How may the right of free speech be abridged, if at all?

An interesting situation came up on April 9, 2019, when pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a talk by a pro-Israel speaker. The talk concerned the boycott of Israel wanted by Palestinians. The talk was by a visiting professor. The Palestinians entered the room and began shouting, preventing the speaker from continuing. Someone called the campus police. Charles was close by in the law school, and so came down and tried to restore calm and allow the talk to continue. You can read about it in this article in The Chicago Maroon, the university newspaper.

Embedded in the article, in tiny print, is an e-mail Charles sent to the students later in the day, explaining what had happened, what his actions were, and how all this applied to University policy, especially the policy of free speech. I particularly liked this from his e-mail:

The heckler’s veto is contrary to our principles. Protests that prevent a speaker from being heard limit the freedoms of other students to listen, engage, and learn.”

This brings me to something concerning free speech that I’ve been thinking of for quite some time. It’s relevant to me now as I work on my next book, Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition, especially in relation to the discussions on the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech is covered in the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble….

As has been pointed out many times, the Constitution was written in a way to restrict the government, not the people. Laws of Congress restrict the people, but not the Constitution. Over time this has been re-interpreted as applying to the people as well. In certain areas, people must restrict their behavior based on the provisions of the Constitution.

What about in this case? The professor who was speaking has a right to free speech. The protestors who were preventing others from hearing him have a right to free speech. Do those in the audience have a right to hear the speaker? Is there any free speech when hearing is prevented?

Which brings me to something I’ve thought of for a long time. The right of free speech doesn’t guarantee the one speaking or publishing will have an audience. This, I think, is sometimes a problem with the press, especially the broadcast press, who decry alternate voices that crowd them out when they consider themselves to be “legitimate” news outlets and the others not. Sorry, but no one executing their right of free speech or free press has the right to an audience. No one.

But what about those who came to hear the speaker? Do they have a right to hear? I’m not sure. Certainly civility would say that they ought to be allowed to hear the speaker they came to hear, and that the protesters should find a different way to protest. Silently holding signs, confronting the speaker before and after speaking, establishing an alternative talk in another place. These would all be ways for the protesters to be heard and seek to gain their own audience.

This brings me down to what I’ve been thinking about: when rights clash. I have freedom of speech, but not where that right clashes with someone else’s right. I have freedom to practice my religion, but not where that right clashes with someone else’s right.

In a clash of rights, whose right should come out on top? Maybe before I ask that I should say, when rights clash, find a way to accommodate both people’s rights. Then, if you somehow can’t do that, whose right should come out on top? In the USA we have always said it should be the right of the weaker person.

I hope our nation always takes that position. The government was established to protect our God-given rights. When the rights of two people clash, and when no reasonable accommodation of both can be found, then the right of the weaker person should prevail. I can think of one huge area where, in a clash of rights, the Supreme Court and some of the States have come down on the side of the stronger party, but that will be a subject for a different post and perhaps a different blog.

expatriate life, family, miscellaneous, travel

Notre Dame

April 18, 2019 David Todd Leave a comment

It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for us.

I imagine just about everyone who has a blog and who at some time has visited Notre Dame will be making a post about it. I’ll join that army.

We visited Notre Dame in July 1982 while touring Europe en route to the USA from Saudi Arabia. We had just finished our first year in Saudi. Charles was 2 1/2, Sara a little over a year. Perhaps we were foolish taking two youngins’ on such a trip. We were young ourselves back then—and probably foolish.

Hard to get close enough to see people and much of the structure.

Lynda’s must-see city in Europe was Rome and mine was Paris. So we started our 28-day tour in Rome and ended it in Paris. It was a magical time, a once in a lifetime experience. Lynda and I have lots of good memories of that trip.

And a few photos. I think it was our last full day in Paris that we went to see Notre Dame. We had five nights and four days there. The day we arrived we learned the Louvre was closed due to a labor dispute. Bummer. We did other things, and I think the third day we were to go to Notre Dame, but the Louvre opened so we went there, leaving the famous cathedral for the last day in Europe.

We were at Notre Dame somewhat late in the afternoon. After relaxing and taking photos around the outside we went to go inside. A worker stopped us, saying mass was just starting. Not being Catholic that didn’t lure us in, but they would let you in if you wanted to attend mass. Lynda did that while I kept the kids outside, then, maybe ten or fifteen minutes later we switched. I felt a little guilty telling the worker I wanted to attend mass when I didn’t really, but, sometimes we do what we have to do. This was our last opportunity on the trip.

I remember inside as dark but beautiful. I made a quick pass around the inside perimeter, admiring all that I saw. I don’t have specific memories of this or that piece of artwork, but no matter. I went, we went, and that’s what was important.

While inside I snapped some photos. We had a good camera, a Nikon SLR with a telephoto lens, but I wasn’t much of photographer I’m afraid. You can see them on this post, not quite in focus, looking like they were taken in haste instead of with care. Alas.

The cathedral dominated the entire area.

I don’t remember which of us took the outside photos, but it was probably me as I’m not in any of them but Lynda and the kids are. They might be a little better than the inside ones.

We didn’t keep a trip diary then, so have no notes of what we saw, only the photos and perhaps a postcard or letter mailed home, which parents saved and gave to us years later. If time allows, I’ll find them in a file and see if I have anything to add. Given that this was our last day and we were then to head home to see parents, I don’t think I’ll find anything in there.

The fire was, of course, devastating. It’s a shame, though we look forward to rebuilding. I suspect I won’t ever get back there again, as there are too many places in the world to see should I ever again make an overseas trip.

Documenting America, family, Writing

Back in the Saddle

February 12, 2019 David Todd Leave a comment

Last night, around 8:30 p.m., Lynda and I pulled into our driveway, 1318 miles and 11 days after having pulled out. We drove to Big Spring Texas where we spent time with our daughter Sara and her family. We watched the kiddos Friday-Sunday the first weekend and Friday-Saturday the second weekend.

The three older ones are in school, so, with just the 2 yr 4 mo old there in the daytime, and with our daughter there on weekdays, it was sort of vacation for us. Yes, we helped out during those days and times, but I found time to work on stock trading and make a number of trades.

I also found time to make two blog posts, without revealing my whereabouts, and to do significant research on Documenting America: Making the Constitution Edition. I read a lot, and extended my outline to the point where I had 23 of 30 chapters identified. This morning I completed my outline. I still have reading to do, but at least I know my destination now.

I accomplished a number of other, perhaps more important things while in Texas. I took my oldest grandson to his Cross-over Ceremony, where he graduated from Webelo to Boy Scout. That was excellent to see. I also helped him build an A.T.A.T. out of cardboard around his top bunk. We didn’t quite finish, but we got close. And, we had a number of talks—nothing terribly profound or earth-shattering, but simple conversations.

With my next-oldest grandson, we had several times of Bible reading together. He’s seven, and decided he wanted to read the Bible through. He’s currently on Deuteronomy. We read about ten chapters in it, maybe a few more. I also teased him with his portions at meals, something he came to expect and I think enjoy.

With the two youngest, there was playing with blocks and roughhousing and playing runaway blanket.

I didn’t have much time to help with projects around the house, such as hanging pictures or getting a few things put where they should go. I’ll have another trip to do that. I fixed several meals for everyone, and was the founder of a couple of times eating out.

All in all, I declare this to have been a successful trip. Now I’m ready to tackle at-home tasks, the list of which is not being shortened in retirement.

Adam Of Jerusalem, family, Writing

No Post on Friday, Late for Monday

February 4, 2019 David Todd Leave a comment

Yes, here it is 9:00 p.m. on Monday and I’m just getting to my blog post. That’s after not having done one on my regular Friday. No excuses, of course, but I do have two good reasons.

First is this cold. I think I mentioned it before. I first noticed symptoms on Tuesday, January 22. The cold was in full blast by Thursday the 24th, and Saturday-Sunday seemed to be the worst—I thought. But the whole next week was about as bad as the weekend. I had good days here and there but, as of last Saturday, Feb 2, I was almost as bad. I don’t know why this is hanging on so. I’ve been taking over-the-counter meds, which gives some relief. Today I felt a little better. I’m still way below full speed, but I anticipate the healing to soon come.

The other reason, perhaps more valid, is we babysat the four grandchildren this past weekend. While their parents were away at ministers and spouses retreat, we tried to do right by the kids (ages 10 to 2) while keeping our heads and our sanity. I actually think it went well. My cold kept me from doing a Saturday morning activity with the two older boys, though they didn’t seem mind. We bought food for two suppers, and managed for other meals. We were all glad to see the parents return Sunday afternoon. They seemed pleased to see the kids dressed, having had baths on Saturday and been to church on Sunday. They told of another couple who said they got their kids back from grandparents in the same clothes they were in all weekends, no baths, questionable meals. So, we feel like we maybe did okay.

Meanwhile, what’s going on in my retirement world? I completed the third round of edits of Adam Of Jerusalem. It is now with a beta reader, and will go to a second beta reader next time I see her at church. One chapter went to the new critique group, and I’ve had feedback from three people. I’ll send a second chapter in about a week, then I expect I’ll be at the publishing stage.

In the meantime, I have resumed research in the next volume of the Documenting America series. This is the Making The Constitution Edition. I plan to have 30 chapters, as I did in the first volume, each chapter following the pattern of introductory paragraph, 700 to 1200 word quote, discussion of the document in its history, and tying it to an issue of the day. Based on past and recent research, I have 24 chapters identified. The remaining six shouldn’t be two difficult. I think I could find them in a week of research.

That means I’m a month or so away from starting the writing on this volume. That seems good to me. I’m anxious to get back to some additional writing.

family

R.I.P. Esther May (Moler) Cheney Barnes

November 19, 2018 David Todd Leave a comment

On Nov. 7, 2018, my mother-in-law, Esther May (Moler) Cheney Barnes left this world and entered her heavenly dwelling. She had been ill for some time, with her physical condition rapidly deteriorating in the two weeks prior to her death. She was 93 years old.

Esther grew up in Meade Kansas, a rural area southwest of Dodge City. As a child and teenager during the Great Depressions, she had memories of hard times and dust storms. She graduated high school in 1943, went to junior college, then was pressed into service teaching, as there was a shortage of teachers.

In 1946 she married Wayne Cheney of nearby Fowler Kansas. They had three children (one of whom died shortly after childbirth) and Esther miscarried at least twice. She and Wayne divorced around 1953. Esther remarried in 1986, to Chester Barnes. Chester had five children, three of whom were by his first wife; he and she divorced and he wasn’t close to the children. He had two daughters by his second wife, and these became like additional daughters to Esther.

She was city clerk for the City of Meade for 35 years, retiring in 1988. Her starting salary was $0.99 per hour. She had a difficult life as a single mom. For some time she and the children lived with Esther’s parents in Meade. Esther paid rent to them, however. It was a difficult life, with the three of them sharing a bedroom, Esther working her main job plus other jobs such as babysitting and washing to help make ends meet. She got through it, however. And her children grew up to become responsible adults.

In her later years; she still played occasionally

Esther was a rock-solid Christian. She was saved at a very early age, before memories carried into adulthood, and lived a consistent Christian walk after that. She joined the Church of the Nazarene (the church of her parents and grandparents), and, wherever she lived, this was her home church. Despite her financial hardships, she was a faithful tither. Her ministries in the church were pianist, organist, choir member, board member, and Sunday school teacher.

In 1988 she and her second husband retired to Benton County Arkansas, where Chester had been given a few acres. There they had a retirement farm where they raised cattle, ostriches, and emus. In 1996 they left this farm for full retirement in Bentonville. Chester died in 1999, and Esther was a widow for her last 19 years. She gradually “downsized”, from her house to an apartment to an independent living apartment to living with us for a few years, then finally to an assisted living facility in Bella Vista, about a mile from our home. It was there that she seemed happiest.

Wither her two oldest great-grandchildren, Ephraim and Ezra

Esther leaves a good legacy for her family. She knew her two grandchildren and four step-grandchildren. She knew four great-grandchildren, and enjoyed them being part of her life when they came for a visit.

Our family will miss her. At the same time, we are rejoicing that she has reached her heavenly home, safe in the arms of Jesus.

David A Todd