Editor’s Note: Ann is good people. She is so kind, so interesting, and such a great storyteller. Enjoy! ** I started this story on February 17: the night that the delicate crescent moon signaled the start of Ramadan, the Muslim time of reflection and spirituality. I enjoy greeting my Muslim friends here in Rochester and also…
Editor’s Note: Loving grandparents and parents turn a young boy’s summer into surprise and wonder, with this intimate awareness of nature’s miracles, setting him on the path to becoming a loving, curious, happy, and knowledgeable adult human being. *** It all started on August 7th. Grandson Oliver, 5 years old, suggested that we look for Monarch…
Editor’s Note: Ann continues her journey in Canada to find her roots. Her “Mini-Memories” could all be full length stories. ** I was exploring the countryside where my mother’s ancestors homesteaded in Ontario, Canada. It was hot: mid- 80s and muggy. Despite that, I rented a light green curvaceous Townie bicycle and pedaled west from Wellington,…
Editor’s Note: Ann continues on with her genealogy project staying in Canadian Airbnbs, each one with its own surprise. This one offered an inviting writing desk for working on her project. ** I was quite excited to finally get back to Wellington, a lovely small town on the north shore of Lake Ontario. My host…
I made it just fine to Toronto. Before I went to meet my relative, I had arranged to spend one night in an Airbnb. It was in a small apartment in downtown Toronto. My Airbnb contact was a very pleasant and responsive older woman from India. We had exchanged messages several times. She had sent…
Paris, Easter, 2019 The Spring of 2019 was hectic and stressful for Folke and me. We had made the decision to sell the Swedish farm. We had also visited Rochester where Folke’s daughter Rebecka and her husband had moved to from Hawaii. The last thing on my mind was travel for fun. Still living at…
Editor’s Note: “God Jul” is the Swedes “Merry Christmas”. Ann Sigford delights us with a follow up to her story “Christmas Eve on our Swedish Farm”. *** It’s 3:30 a.m. on Christmas Day — Jul in Swedish — and two alarm clocks have gone off in the otherwise silent yellow farmhouse. Two, just to be…
Editor’s Note: The image shows the Advent candles, a placemat with the tomte, and a saffron bun symbolizing the hoped for return of the sun. The author writes this delightful, charming story in present tense to invite you to join her. *** My husband Folke and I enjoyed 15 Christmas Eves on our farm. In…
Editor’s Note: Writer Ann Sigford joyfully embraces Mother Nature including one of her smallest beings, ants, in this delightful poem she spontaneously wrote upon catching sight of them. A smudge on the sidewalk catches my eye early, early Solstice morning. Town criers meet deep underground check the date, double check this is it, the earliest…
Long ago I worked at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, and through that job I got to know many interesting people. This is the story of one of them. The College sent me to Washington, D.C. On a free day, I decided to take a boat trip to see Mount Vernon. When I…
