Welcome To My Website!
Grab a cup of coffee and join me for a chat. We can get caught up on old times or share a favorite story or memory. Social media has descended upon us with a vengeance and the pandemic has ended our coffees together. Topics of interest we may have in common are being a parent or grandparent, teaching and schools, senior living, writing poetry, Amana, Iowa, C.H. Wendel and Letter Press printing.
Over the last almost 50 years as an educator, I taught at Weeks Junior High, was an administrator at Brody Junior High, Des Moines Technical High School., Central Campus and Adult Education. I taught for nearly 10 years for various colleges and universities including Drake, William Penn, and Des Moines Area Community College.
If you are a friend, colleague, classmate, letterpress printer or one of my thousands of students, I am sure we will have lots to chat about. I am retired from traditional teaching but still have lots to share and the urge to keep teaching and learning. I want to learn about you and what you have been doing since we last were together.
I have been doing quite a bit of creative writing and would like to share with you some of my poetry and future publications. I am working on the story of my life with Chuck Wendel and serving as his caretaker for most of our time together after his stroke. I have looked back at all those unfinished stories and creations of my past and am working on several you might like to see. Being alone now gives me time to learn more about new technology and use it to reach out to former students and friends.

I am glad we found each other again.


Parenting
What’s in a name?
When I was a little girl and we went to visit my mother’s parents, I was taught to call them Mother Dearest, and Daddy Bill, not Grandma and Grandpa. I have often wondered if this practice
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Kitchen Table Poetry
Kitchen Table Poetry
I have been writing poetry for many years. It is not in the tradition of Longfellow or Frost, but a sort of free the way I feel at the time. Just a piling on of words.
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Teachers and Teaching
Why I Teach
Chapter One: I never planned to be a teacher.
A summary of my life story is well captured in this quote by John Lennon: Life is what happenswhen you are busy making other plans.
I was born in
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Coffee Chats
Friends, Colleagues and Students
In the over 50 years of teaching and administering in schools and colleges, I have met many wonderful students and teachers. I am interested in what has happened to you and where you have gone with
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The Good Ole Days
When I “Retire”
Some of my readers out there may be making this prediction with the best of intentions. I have to admit I don’t remember ever making such plans. And as my life has been a perfect reflection
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Just for Laughs
Just for Laughs
Remember reading that last page in Readers Digest with the jokes and funny stories? I think it was called Laughter is the Best Medicine. Life would be so dreary if we could not laugh with others
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Coming Publications
The Coffee Lovers’ Poetry Companion
Here is a sample from the book.
Science ExperimentIn the bottom of your desk drawerIt’s resting sight unseen.An almost empty coffee cup,Its contents turning green.
How long it’s been forgotten.When did it fall from grace?No doubt the day
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