It was in 1970 and I needed a job. My husband was sick and unable to work. A friend of mine drove a school bus for the school our children attended. She told me there was an opening for a bus driver. How hard could that be? I was to apply at the superintendent of schools' office.

Every pantry has a package or two of macaroni and cheese dinner in there somewhere. It is the good beginning for a quick supper. I remember that when I worked (it hasn't been that long ago) I needed a quick dish for supper. If I had a pound of ground beef defrosting in the refrigerator and I could find a package of mac and cheese dinner, supper would soon be on the table.

Not everyone should take music lessons. There are some that have a hole in their bucket, like me. Mother thought it would be nice if one of her children learned how to play the Hawaiian guitar. Island music was popular back in the days before World War II. She picked the wrong kid, me.

Years ago when I had a big garden, I tried to “put up” as much as I could. It seemed that if I had a full cupboard of home canned fruit and veggies, the winter would go well. If my cupboard was meager, the winter usually meant hard times for my family. It happened often enough to warn me to be prepared.

Did you vote on August 2nd in the Primary Election? I did. They say all politics is local. I agree and the Primary Election is where you can make some of the greatest differences. My dad was a stanch Democrat. I remember as a child listening to FDR giving his Fireside Chats. My dad always voted. He said he didn't have the right to complain if he didn't vote. Boy, oh boy, could he complain. He instilled the Democratic Party's ideals in me that remain today.

Have you ever loaned someone a few dollars and not expected it back? Most of us have at one time or another. This incident took place at a fast food restaurant on Broadway in Fountain City.

A fast food place is ideal for someone to start out or start over. It is at or near the bottom of the work ladder. If you have never worked before, and your education is minimal, you might begin your work history here. If you are retired and have fallen on hard times, they will hire you, too. If you are fresh out of prison or re-hab and especially if you're a woman, this is it.

My husband liked sliced tomatoes. When it came his time to serve in World War II, tomatoes were out of season. In those days if something was out of season, it was unavailable to most folks; not like today. Fresh fruit and vegetables are flown in from exotic places such as South America and India. Restaurants, back then, did serve what were called hot house tomatoes. They were grown in greenhouses. Such tomatoes were a pretty red, but flavorless.

Our house on Lee Road, near Michigan Center, had aluminum siding. It was the newest thing. Before that, there was only wood siding or brick. Aluminum is an excellent conductor of electricity as we would discover.

My father had wired our home at Pulaski. He was an electrician, but had passed on by the time we moved to Lee Road. The lumber yards were not yet selling how-to-it books. Anyway, my husband would never admit he didn't know how to do something. He just tried to bull his way through a problem. Pug wired our house on Lee Road.

Anyone who knows about Stuffed Cabbage will understand what Unstuffed Cabbage is all about. There are several ways to fix Stuffed Cabbage but only one way to do Unstuffed Cabbage. The great thing about this recipe is that it is easy to prepare. There is no boiling the cabbage, separating the leaves and then filling each one with a ground beef and rice mixture. Nope. This one is easier. Just shred or chop the cabbage and start in.

A number of celebrity suicides have been in the news lately. As a Christian, suicide is not an option for me, but who am I to judge? I was talking with my daughter, Anne, this evening and mentioned an episode that happened to a man I knew years ago. “You should write about that,” she said. I said that I would. Not to make me look good but to show what an influence you can have on another of God's children. Sometimes there are warning signs and sometimes there are not. There was this time. Here goes.