Sundays with Steve

It is Easter weekend, and Mrs. Steve and I wish you all a fun and joy filled day.

I'm glad you've been enjoying Great Aunt Barbara Jane’s tale of the wagon train from Missouri to the Washington Territory for the last the 10 weeks -- it was a little bit longer than I had planned, but there was lots of room on the blog and lots of time to tell the tale. Before I jump back into my weekly story-telling of small town life from the 50s, 60s and 70s, I wanted to share some photos from around the house this weekend.

Coming in future weeks are some tales of blizzards in the Idaho mountains, stories of other relative’s migrations to the Northwest (but nothing like the wagon train!), a story about 300 of us teenagers taking a train across the continent in 1964 that included an encounter with President Johnson, and more stories of life in small-town America.

I thought I was about out of weekly stories for you, but Mrs. Steve plied me with a glass of wine or two for a trip down memory lane, and she’s right, there’s a lot more to pass along. It may take another year or more to get through them all.

One thing I’ve been meaning to mention: These weekly stories are actually a compilation for our families to enjoy, or at least learn from, in the years ahead. A year ago, Mrs. Steve interviewed her father for his 80th birthday, and published a short book of his stories and memories for the family to enjoy. I was so impressed, I decided, with Mrs. Jenny’s encouragement, to tell stories that generally focus on my developmental years growing up and coming of age in Idaho. So if these stories seem a bit odd or off on occasion, that’s the reason -- the primary audience is the family who might peek at these in 20 or 50 or 100 years, and say ‘What the hell was he talking about????”

And I'm glad I can share these stories with you, too. Especially because you're all too polite to come right out and say, 'What the hell is he talking about???!!!"

Easter weekend around the house: