Scarecrow

Years ago my then very small daughter said that she wanted a scarecrow. We were living in our first house in Austin, and actually had a more-or-less functional garden at the time. I thought about it for a while and decided that there was no reason not to. I had an old, worn out flannel [...]

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Seen at Cool Springs Park

One day this summer, on a drive east along U.S. Route 50, we paused at Cool Springs Park. We have driven past this park often, usually slowing down to gaze at the intriguing antique farm equipment scattered among the trees, and we have stopped from time to time at the store to use the restrooms [...]

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Helfer Emilia 1913

This artifact is an inheritance from my father’s sister, but really a memento of an unknown kinswoman and a link to a place I have never been. I found this drawing among my Aunt Erna’s papers after she died in 1976. It appears at some time to have been in a frame, but no longer [...]

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Artifacts — The Bookcase

The 8th grade wood shop project was larger than the 7th grade project, probably because we were a year larger and were supposed to have learned something about woodworking during the previous year. The project was a small bookcase, not fancy, just three shelves, two sides, and a back, about three feet tall. We started [...]

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Artifacts — The Book Rack

When I was in junior high school (7th and 8th grades) all the boys were assigned to shop class half the year while the girls were assigned to home economics; the other half of the year we were all together in art class (we all took typing half the year, too — I’m not sure [...]

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