If you truly desire to gain an authentic appreciation for winter, just leave. For twenty-four years. That's what Dick and I did. Over the span of our dual state lifestyle, we always returned to our central Minnesota home to live during the spring, summer, and autumn seasons until, in April 2017, we sold our Florida…

"A little bit about me before you go… " This phrase has been floating around in my brain… song lyrics, I think. Each of us has a story… a song. Here's mine.     Hello. My name is Adrienne Cahoon (a.k.a. "queen of the meadow blooms"). I grew up in a family of fourteen on…

Growing up southeast of Brainerd on a farm surrounded by dirt roads all around, life took on a slower pace. Recently, paved roads have encroached within one mile on two sides of where the old homestead still remains, but the "washboard" gravel road thus far hasn't been covered over with asphalt in the name of…

I received a photo calendar from my sister Marlene for Christmas. One of my favorite childhood photos is of my brother Greg and I sitting by our hand pump that supplied all of the water for our daily needs including drinking, cooking, and washing clothes and for water for our milk cows. This photo taken in 1955 is a…

It's Christmas Eve. Each year my thoughts drift back so very many years ago to my childhood in the 1950s and our tinsel-laden tree.  The snowflake and icicle are two ornaments (the only ones) that I have from that original tree. 

I'd like to introduce you to Dick's grandmother, Olive Clifton Dullum, who is Dick's mother's mother. I will also unravel her relationship to Thomas Edison's second wife, Mina Miller. In 1914, Olive opened a boarding house eleven miles northeast of Brainerd in the little community of Woodrow, which was named after President Woodrow Wilson. It…

The Brainerd Public Library's "Brown Bag Summer Author Series" spawned the early beginnings of my efforts to uncover how Dick's grandmother is related to Thomas Edison. I was so excited to attend the series for my very first time on June 9, 2014 that I packed a special lunch the night before… in a brown…

Today, a miracle. Our daughter brought forth into this world a sweet baby girl.  A small lamp casting a soft glow in the upstairs bedroom of a home tucked into the mountains of New York. Two skilled, seasoned midwives. A family gathered round. And then the long awaited moment. Heather giving birth. Our eldest grandchild cutting…

My brother Rick was born on September 29, 1958. It is his birthday today.   Sadly, after exhausting every resource and valiantly enduring much suffering attempting to overcome his cancer, he passed away on August 24, 2011 at the age of 52 years 10 months and 26 days. Here he stands next to his farmall tractor on his beloved farm…

In each cabin and inn room at my bed and breakfast, there is a crocheted doily. It may be under a lamp, a vase, or draped across a nightstand. Each one was handmade by my mother. Throughout the years she made many… too many to count… we should have. As she grew older, her mind remained…