7 tips for gardening with grandkids

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7 tips for gardening with grandkids

There’s something invigorating about getting one’s hands dirty then appreciating what comes (or might come) from the earth. For kids especially, gardening can be an ideal way to counteract the electronic and artificial stimulation bombarding them on a daily basis.

Here are seven tips to ensure your grandchild’s curiosity with the natural world grows right along with the goodies you plant together.

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30 'firsts' only grandparents celebrate

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30 'firsts' only grandparents celebrate

There are numerous firsts in a child's life worth celebrating. The milestones Mom and Dad mark, though, likely aren’t the same ones Grandma and Grandpa celebrate.

Here are 30 firsts in the life of a grandchild that warm a grandparent's heart and warrant a happy dance.

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Stroll with a goal: 8 ideas for walks with grandkids

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Stroll with a goal: 8 ideas for walks with grandkids

Spring has sprung! So put on your walking shoes, gather up a grandkiddo or two, and hit the road—or sidewalk, as the case may be—for one of these springtime strolls with a goal.

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11+ things grandmas do when no one else wants to or can (2020 edition)

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11+ things grandmas do when no one else wants to or can (2020 edition)

Several years ago I wrote a post on things grandmas do when others won’t. Upon publishing that, many experienced grandmas commented with additional tasks to add to the list.

I’ve intended to update that post to include those comments for quite some time and have simply never gotten around to it. But considering the amount of spare time Covid restrictions have afforded most of us, I’ve finally done it.

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Streamin' and screamin': My top 10 scariest films

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Streamin' and screamin': My top 10 scariest films

‘Tis the scary season—and no, I’m not talking about Covid and our political climate (though those are downright frightening, for sure).

No, I’m talking about Halloween time.

As folks peruse streaming services for scary stuff to watch in celebration of the season, I’d like to offer a few films that forever scarred, I mean memorably scared me, on the off-chance others may wish to be similarly scarred, I mean, scared.

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Fall favorites

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Fall favorites

Fall has long been my hands-down, very most favorite season of the year.

I’m certainly not alone in my autumn adoration, as there are plenty of grandmothers and others who’d answer fall if asked what’s their favorite season of all.

We may not all give the same answer as to why fall is our favorite, though.

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Six blessings of my dog's senior status

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Six blessings of my dog's senior status

Our dog is getting old. Depending on the chart used, Mickey — the pit-pointer we rescued at six weeks old — has reached senior status, hovering anywhere around 80 years old to 93 or so.

Mickey’s advanced age is obvious in myriad ways. The bold brown coloring on his face has gone gray, he has trouble on stairs, he sleeps much of the time, he rarely gets excited about even his once most favorite things … including squirrels needing his exuberant escorting out of the yard and …

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Flashback: 10 signs of aging gracefully

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Flashback: 10 signs of aging gracefully

Dear readers: This piece on the secret to aging gracefully originally appeared on Grandma’s Briefs on March 24, 2013. Six years later, the signs still resonate with me. I hope they do with you, too. Thank you for reading my rerun.

When it comes to aging gracefully, forget the face creams, hair colors and exercises — the physical manifestations others see as we rack up the years. Instead, I prefer to focus on a different kind of trait that others see, one I think trumps the physical when considering how gracefully others are aging and how gracefully I'm aging myself.

That trait? It's attitude. For, as age is just…

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Throwback Thursday: 5 things I'll never write about

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Throwback Thursday: 5 things I'll never write about

Dear readers: This #TBT feature originally appeared on Grandma's Briefs February 9, 2010. I’m proud to say that nine years later, I’ve still never written about—at least not at length—the things I swore I never would. Thank you for reading my rerun.

I read a lot of blogs. I didn't used to, but since becoming a blogger, I'm interested in what other folks are blogging about, where they get their ideas, how they express the little—and big—things in life in a way that intrigues readers day after day. My RSS reader feeds me a steady diet of food for thought.

Lately, some of that food has been pretty foreign to me. Not foreign in the sense that I'm reading posts in Chinese…

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