Tag: A-to-Z 2026

A to Z Blogging Challenge · family

H is for Hay

Sally2 Comments
Cooperstown 1967

There was a red Radio Flyer of hay
On a hot sunny summery day
We loaded the wagon
And then started draggin’
[how would you finish this limerick?]

Next door to our property was a dairy farmer who cut, baled, and hauled away the hay. We “helped.”

A few years ago I did the A-to-Z Challenge using collages I had made alongside unfinished limericks. I especially enjoyed the unfinished limerick part. It was very audience-participation-ish.

This year I thought I would try using old photographs and unfinished limericks. Can you finish this limerick?

A to Z Blogging Challenge · family

G is for Gauze

Sally5 Comments

There once was a girl dressed in gauze
Not a mummy! But a white dress it was –
With shawl and a smile
Ethiopian-style
[Can you finish my limerick?]

? 1963

This is my sister, looking quite lovely in her dress and shawl. The style was definitely Ethiopian. The fabric is very gauzy, with multiple layers of fabric. The dress itself is lined.

? 1964

This is Gazachen, our housemaid, dressed in the shawl and white gauzy dress, and me, not to be trusted in a white dress.

1964

Okay, yes — I had a dress, too. Did I pose well for photos? No.

? 1996

This is my oldest daughter wearing my old dress. (And one of her brothers photo-bombing)

I still have all these dresses. What to do with them?!?

A few years ago I did the A-to-Z Challenge using collages I had made alongside unfinished limericks. I especially enjoyed the unfinished limerick part. It was very audience-participation-ish.

This year I thought I would try using old photographs and unfinished limericks. Can you finish this limerick?

A to Z Blogging Challenge · family

F is for Flying

Sally7 Comments

There once was a family who flew
‘Cross the ocean in 1962!
Six cities, 40+ hours
Bet they needed showers!
[how would you finish this limerick?]

In this photo of the Asmara Airport, I’m pretty sure that’s my mom turning to look at the camera, but it begs the question, where are all the kids?

From my father’s journal:
“On 10 December we arrived via TWA and EAL at Asmara (Eritrea) Ethiopia to begin a 2 1/2 year tour at this post — KAGNEW STATION. Having left Idlewild at 1930 hrs on 8 Dec by TWA jet we flew to Paris, Rome, Athens, and finally Cairo arriving there at 1745 hrs on 9 Dec. EAL was delayed at Frankfort so we spent a total of 14 hrs in Cairo divided between the Nile Hilton and finally the Cleopatra Arms. Because of our exhausted state and a rather slow dinner we were unable to visit the pyramids by moonlight as we’d hoped. The children travelled well but were completely exhausted by the time we arrived in Asmara at approx 1300 hrs on 10 Dec …”

I had to look up what Idlewild was. Today we call is JFK.

A few years ago I did the A-to-Z Challenge using collages I had made alongside unfinished limericks. I especially enjoyed the unfinished limerick part. It was very audience-participation-ish.

This year I thought I would try using old photographs and unfinished limericks. Can you finish this limerick?

A to Z Blogging Challenge · Earliest Memories · family

E is for Ethiopia

Sally10 Comments

There once was a man in Ethiopia
(Where the roads resembled twisted rope-ia)
He drove a VW Bug
With family quite snug
[how would you finish my limerick?]

Roads in Ethiopia 1963
The VW Bug our family squeezed into
Our family that fit — albeit snugly — into the VW Bug

In an undated journal entry — sometime early January 1963 — my father wrote, “We’ve purchased a 1959 VW sedan with under 15,000 miles from L. N. for $800. This is an ideal car for this area.”

I remember riding in that car. I think there were times when we also had another adult in the car with us, a native Ethiopian woman who helped my mother with us — so 7 people in a VW on windy narrow roads! Crazy, right?

A few years ago I did the A-to-Z Challenge using collages I had made alongside unfinished limericks. I especially enjoyed the unfinished limerick part. It was very audience-participation-ish.

This year I thought I would try using old photographs and unfinished limericks. Can you finish this limerick?

family · A to Z Blogging Challenge

D is for Dog

Sally10 Comments

Bimbo was the name of our dog
(Tho’ my memory is a bit of a fog)
We left her behind
When we were reassigned
[how would you finish my limerick?]

Was this dog Bimbo?
Or this dog?
Or this dog?

True story — I don’t really remember our dog, Bimbo. I do, however, remember that Bimbo turned up in Ft. Devens after we had to leave her behind in Ethiopia. I mean, we found another home for her before we returned, and my parents had told us that we couldn’t take her back to the states, and yet, somehow, her new family had solved that problem.

Is it really a tragedy? I don’t know. I can’t even remember what Bimbo looked like.

A few years ago I did the A-to-Z Challenge using collages I had made alongside unfinished limericks. I especially enjoyed the unfinished limerick part. It was very audience-participation-ish.

This year I thought I would try using old photographs and unfinished limericks. Can you finish this limerick?

A to Z Blogging Challenge

C is for Corn

Sally6 Comments

Do you see those cornfields in the foreground?
Where I live, I’ll tell you, they are all around
Rural, bucolic
So lovely to frolic
[how would you finish my limerick?]

A few years ago I did the A-to-Z Challenge using collages I had made alongside unfinished limericks. I especially enjoyed the unfinished limerick part. It was very audience-participation-ish.

This year I thought I would try using old photographs and unfinished limericks. Can you finish this limerick?

That house in the distance across the valley? That’s the house where I grew up.

family · A to Z Blogging Challenge

B is for Bird

Sally9 Comments

She wanted to touch the wee bird
Which, to me, seemed a little absurd
But she reached out her hand
When the bird came to land
[how would you finish my limerick?]

A few years ago I did the A-to-Z Challenge using collages I had made alongside unfinished limericks. I especially enjoyed the unfinished limerick part. It was very audience-participation-ish.

This year I thought I would try using old photographs and unfinished limericks. Can you finish this limerick?

I think this picture was taken in Cooperstown, where my father did his internship and residency. That’s my sister and my oldest brother.

A to Z Blogging Challenge · About My Dad · family

A is for Army

Sally8 Comments

These pics show my Army-man dad
Don’t you think he looks pretty rad?
He served with great pride
Both abroad and stateside
[how would you finish my limerick?]

A few years ago I did the A-to-Z Challenge using collages I had made alongside unfinished limericks. I especially enjoyed the unfinished limerick part. It was very audience-participation-ish.

This year I thought I would try using old photographs and unfinished limericks. Can you finish this limerick?

My dad really was in the army. The army paid for his medical school, and he paid them back with time. I was born on an US Army base. My father then went overseas to Ethiopia to a base there — with the whole family. My earliest memories are from that time.