SWEET EPHEMERA OF LIFE

Memories, such sweet stuff. Precious memories a lyricist once wrote.

Memories influence our life in so many ways.

Making us what we are today.

Guiding our passions, enhancing our talents.

My Grandma Dame kept a scrapbook.

Not the fancy kind.....

Just an old geography textbook where she pasted newpaper clippings she liked

Over the original pages;

Mostly poems, some from Grit magazine.

Recipes she wanted to try, also from Grit.

A picture of the Dionne quintuplets born in 1934.

An old photograph purporting to show Jesus in the clouds.

I loved that old scrapbook.

I nearly wore it out just looking at it.

When I was in the third grade, I started my own scrapbook.

As time went by, I threw the clippings into shoe boxes.

Then I discovered manila folders.

And made files.

And labelled them.

And alphabetized them.

Then I bought file cabinets for the files.

But again I ran out of time and just threw the clippings into the file cabinet.

Now I’m back to making scrapbooks.

Sorting, and sticking them under the clear transparent sheets of sticky pages.

Others make digital scrapbooks. Not me.

I love turning the pages. Reading the captions. Remembering.

Don’t need to power up a computer. Nor fiddling with wi-fi reception.

Just need a lap, a bright light over my shoulder, a comfortable recliner.

My scrapbooks and me.

Sometimes the memories turn to liquid and run down my cheeks.

Sometimes I laugh over a silly comic strip that was funny years ago.

And still is.

Humor never changes and our funny bone doesn’t break.

Sometimes I weep over a yellowed obituary.

Remembering this person that I loved dearly.

That had such an influence over my life.

Missing them now more than ever.

And the pages keep turning.

So many memories.

And a legacy for my granddaughters.

Hoping they will build a scrapbook of their own as time goes on.

Hoping they will get a glimpse of how I lived my life.

What was important to me.

What passions and talents consumed my energies..

What their births meant to me.

It’s a story of life in a book. An autobiography written in real time.

A story like no other. Because it is my story and I revel in the telling.

Written by Joan Rowden Hart this 10th day of September 2017.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AUTUMN

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AUTUMN By Joan Rowden Hart, Oct. 17, 2016 The hickory tree stands tall in the yard A harbinger of the season to come Dispensing nuts as the wind picks up A change in the weather so abrupt These are the sights and sounds of autumn The first tryma just rolled down the length of the roof But they’ve been littering the roads for days They crack under the wheels Causing car brakes to squeal The sights and the sounds of autumn. A chill in the breeze says it won’t be long now Old winter will be here too soon But there are still pleasant days For the sun’s warming rays And the sights and the sounds of autumn Leaves drifting on the wings of the wind as they play A kaleidoscope of nature’s own making Rusty mauve, glittery gold Red and orange bright and bold These are the sights and sounds of autumn. Smoke rising in the air from bonfires here and there Hotdogs impaled on sticks, embers glowing Crisp and crunch as you bite In the evenings waning light More sights and sou...

NATIONAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 1977 - Joan as delegate

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN THE MAKING MISSOURI Document 139: "Delegates to the National Women's Conference" (Houston: National Women's Conference, 1977). 15 pp. DELEGATES TO THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE The voices and faces of American women delegates to the National Women's Conference reflect the diversity of this country's female population. Self-descriptions of the delegates, ages 16 to 80, indicate a myriad of women's roles and occupations, There ane single and married women, mothers, daughters, and grandmothers. There are homemakers, working women, students and retired women. Delegations include a number of nuns, secretaries, teachers, nurses, lawyers, ministers, fadory workers, handicapped women, technicians, and women from urban, rural, farm and ranch areas of this country. DELEGATES Angie Bennett, Springfield Joan Brier, Columbia Shirley Clough, Glendale Mary Gale Doyle, St. Louis Mae Duggan, St. Louis Karen Dukewits, Indepe...

Straight From The Hart

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