La Fhéile Pádraig Shona Daoibh!! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! I have confused ancestors on my Father’s side. Way back when, many left Scotland to live in Ireland. Some went back to Scotland, and some came to America. Because of all this traveling, when I attempted to research my genealogy on that side of the family, […]
Author Archives: Maplewood Press
A New Englander’s Take on the Big Easy’s Mardi Gras
Normally trees don’t bloom in February. In New Orleans, Louisiana they do. They bloom with colorful strands of beads that remain there for weeks, possibly months! Or… the beads were tossed from creatively decorated floats by masked and costumed people to exuberant and loud spectators and they were caught instead by the trees. Most people […]
New Year Re-set Toward Happiness
Happy New Year and a Happy Re-set! Re-set? Yes, we have 356 unknown days ahead of us. Sure, some are predetermined such as holidays, birthdays, vacations, and such, but the actual content of those days is not set in stone. When we were kids the passing of time seemed so slow! Then as we grew […]
An Unexpected Holiday Surprise That Caught Up With Me
When my sons were little they were in a Christmas Nativity pageant. At the time I agreed to help out and make several costumes. One was for the child playing the angel Gabriel. I didn’t have a lot of money back then, so I had to get creative and use what ever was on hand. […]
Happy Birthday Maplewood Press : My Top Five Favorite Articles
Two years ago I decided to start this website. I had been collecting artifacts and ideas for many years and felt the need to research them, write about them, and share those findings. I hope you learned something new, or I inspired you, or at least made you smile on a dreary day! Here are […]
How to Plan an Early American Funeral
You are living in the 1600s and someone comes to your house and hands you a pair of gloves. Do they think your hands are cold? No, it’s an invitation! Time for the annual Halloween post about those unique Puritans and their odd death rituals. If you have been playing along the past couple years, […]
Creepy Crawlers: Orb Spiders
Along came a Spider and Sat Down beside…us! Spiders, love them or hate them. Mostly hate them. I consider myself a very brave person, but spiders can freak me out. So why am I fascinated with the ones in my yard? In particular the orb web weavers? This time of year brings out the HUGE […]
Atwood’s Artful Artifacts 3 : Gloucester’s Fishermen Memorial, Then and Now
My Dad handed me my first camera when I was a kid. I was smitten with the hobby from the start! We had many fun years together taking photos. Thanks Dad! To honor him, I have been looking at some of his old slides and photos and have attempted to recreate them. This weekend I […]
Back to School with Old Tales
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I will tell you…I adore the illustrations in old children’s books. The woodcuts are fantastic. The images can be creepy and fun. Most of all they are just plain beautiful. Ahh, but what about the stories that they highlight? Recently I have been paying more attention to […]
Survival Games from the Past to Teach Your Child Now
Tag! You are IT ! Have you ever watched a nature show and saw wolf cubs jumping at each other, nibbling on each other’s ears, or chasing each other? We humans call that playing. To the wolves, it is training for adult independence and survival. I was a kid during the “kids can raise themselves” generation. Parents […]