Waking up to the life around us

As I continue to share my great aunt Hattie’s diaries, every so often an entry stays with me, and today is one of those days: 1934 Feb. 25 Sunday Was only 6 above near noon and some snow fell and in p.m. rose to 9 above and sun set bright. Fritz helped chore, gave the cattle …

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Women’s Receipt Books

In today’s entry from The Great Plains Diaries of Harriet E. Whitcher, Hattie mentions working on her receipt-books: 1934, January 26, Friday Partly cloudy but warm, 58 above in p.m. Ben Clausen came to his traps this a.m. but not here to-day, was here yesterday but no stay. I just worked at receipt-books, for Will …

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Writing Diaries for Our Future Selves

Photo of Virginia Woolf

“If you don’t tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” ~ Virginia Woolf, “The Leaning Tower” One of the reasons I am looking forward to a career pivot in a few weeks is having more time to devote to the life of my great aunt Hattie, as told through the …

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Excerpts from Hattie’s Christmas Diary Entries

I am re-blogging today’s post from Aunt Hattie’s Diaries. Have a dandy Christmas, everyone! “A Dandy Christmas Day” 1920-1922: Harriet and Will still lived on a farm outside Spencer, Nebraska, and for Christmas of those years they visited Harriet’s parents in Spencer. In 1920 they traveled in a “double-box wagon.” In 1922, Harriet and Louise …

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Anniversary of FDR’s Funeral

Where were you and what were you doing when FDR died? Few people can still answer this question, but for the generations that came of age and were adults during the Depression and World War II, the memory of the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt—his funeral took place 68 years ago today—was as indelible as …

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