grandparents | joy & moxie

The Solace of Butterflies in the Fall

September 15, 2021 1 Comment

In August and September 2017, painted lady butterflies invaded the Plains. They clung to flowers and bushes, drinking their nectar like new and strange autumn-time blossoms of orange, red, and black. The monarchs usually steal the glory, but the painted ladies (vanessa cardui) of 2017 took the spotlight. Plentiful and nourishing rains in California had […]

A Memorial: Gramma

January 25, 2020 2 Comments

Today would have been my grandmother Marie’s 100th birthday. She passed away on January 19, 2006 and was buried a few days later in the blistering cold. Born in 1920, her mother Theresa died when she was six years old of a brain aneurysm. She grew up in her Aunt Ida and Uncle Andrew’s home […]