grandparents | just ponderin'

… on gentle reminders

March 8, 2017 by Lisa Dingle

A gentle reminder… Tap on the shoulder… A whisper of a memory… Or that freaky scene in Poltergeist where Carol-Anne turns from the television and ominously announces that freaky ghosts are here… or back. Whatever. Lately, as we’ve been going through the house here, getting it ready for its market debut, the Old Yankee Man has seemed a bit more present. No… I haven’t seen him. But with each discovery of something he left behind I find myself smiling and nodding… […]

Categories: aspiring maine-iacs, family, Feel good stuff, joy, just ponderin', Maine, memories, musings, Old Yankee Man, the maine thing, unique observation • Tags: death of a parent, grandparents, humor, joy, just ponderin', maine, musings, old yankee man, secrets to happiness

… on the arms, and genes, of the angels

June 4, 2016 by Lisa Dingle

It is a long held notion that we pass down not only physical traits like eye color and nose shape and handedness to our children, who then pass it down to theirs, and theirs and theirs (and the beat goes on)… but that we also pass on skills, behaviors, and sometimes some pretty complex knowledge. Genetic memory. It has been studied (in one study, mice trained to fear a certain smell passed this aversion onto their ‘grandchildren’). It has been observed […]

Categories: child rearing, family, Feel good stuff, Granny, joy, just ponderin', musings, unique observation • Tags: death of a parent, empty nest, grandparents, high school graduation, musings, old yankee man

… on raising grampa

April 17, 2015 by Lisa Dingle

That’s First Dinner, with Mac, Sam, and Grampa circa 1998. For a long time, we couldn’t figure out why Mac and Sam never really ate their dinner. Then we found out about First Dinner. At 5:00, Mac and Sam would walk over to the apartment. Shockingly this was just as Granny and Grampa were sitting down to… yep… dinner. And, so they would hang out and eat dinner and chat, and then come back to our part of the house. Just in […]

Categories: family, just ponderin', memories, Old Yankee Man, talking with granny and grampa • Tags: aging parents, everyday life, grandparents, old yankee man

… on examples and lessons

April 14, 2015 by Lisa Dingle

One of the massive benefits of JoHn being the youngest child was that his sisters and brother all had kids before we did, so we got to watch them learning to be parents the way we all do, without a manual. And we would pay attention and try to figure out what was working (a baby that is used to sleeping in a Pack n’ Play can and will sleep anywhere, which means you can go out and visit your […]

Categories: family, just ponderin', musings, Old Yankee Man, secrets to happiness, unique observation • Tags: aging parents, everyday life, grandparents, humor, musings

… on the definition of home

April 13, 2015 by Lisa Dingle

There’s lots of ‘stuff’ going on in Maine right now. At The Inn (ever-ready caveat: It’s not really an Inn, but it was in the early 1900s, so we call it that, and also we had a sign made that said “Old Southport Inn; Circa 1840”, but that was completely misleading and caused quite a bit of confusion so we added “A Private Residence”, which sounds snooty (because who wants to live in a ‘residence’, not me that’s not who, but […]

Categories: aspiring maine-iacs, family, just ponderin', musings, Nearly Perfect Husband, old house restoration, Old Yankee Man, the maine thing • Tags: aging parents, elder care, everyday life, grandparents, humor, musings, old house restoration

… on something I saw and something I wished

March 23, 2015 by Lisa Dingle

Please… Love me enough to button my shirt When my fingers won’t function And my hands sometimes hurt And… Smile, don’t sneer, when I can’t find a word Or I use the wrong one Or a few come out slurred I’ll… Repay you with memories, of sixty-odd years Our laughter, our sorrows Our joys, and our fears And I’ll… Tell you bad jokes, but they’ll all make you smile And I’ll hold your old hand You’ll hold mind for a while And we’ll… Laugh in the faces […]

Categories: joy, just ponderin', Love, musings, Old Yankee Man, poem, talking with granny and grampa • Tags: grandparents, joy, Love, musings, poem, poetry

… on a day with a teeny bit of over-perspective

March 19, 2015 by Lisa Dingle

Yep. Fred. Forever grateful for anything with cheese mixed in, and this morning’s breakfast was cheesy eggs. He was a happy, happy dog. Right now, having narrowed the ‘something’ that happened with him last week to a suspected stroke or brain lesion, we are now calling him an extra–special needs dog (emphasis on ‘extra-special‘). He cannot see, nor can he smell anymore. But he loves cuddles, has developed an impressive desire for Smartfood popcorn, still loves his cheese, and isn’t in pain. […]

Categories: family, just ponderin', memories, musings, Old Yankee Man, unique observation • Tags: family, grandparents, musings, old yankee man, yellow lab

… on horse heads and crap acquired and… ‘gifted’

June 1, 2014 by Lisa Dingle

That horse head up above? That’s what greeted our guests yesterday, when they approached our door dressed in Kentucky Derby attire (oh, ya. There were hats!) to celebrate the graduation of two kids from a college in Kentucky. Horse head. It makes sense, right? No, seriously, look: And then there is this: I don’t even know what that is. When Mac ran toward me wielding him in HomeGoods, I said ‘no’, because he is not a horse head. He is a zebra. […]

Categories: college graduation, family, musings • Tags: comedic writing, comedy, everyday life, family, grandparents, humor

… on old yankee men as mouse props

February 23, 2014 by Lisa Dingle

Did you happen, by any chance, to read the title of this post as, ‘old yankee men as mouse poops’? No? Never mind. I got my handy-dandy-mysterious-magical lens-changing-camera a little over a year ago, and since then have learned a lot about taking photos. I still don’t know what all the dials and buttons mean, and occasionally I get odd icons on my display screen that cause me to make funny faces and hope for the best, but I’m learning […]

Categories: child rearing, Disney World, family, Feel good stuff, just ponderin', memories, musings, Old Yankee Man • Tags: comedic writing, comedy, Disney World, family, grandparents, humor, musings, old yankee man

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