Over the Labor Day weekend I offered a service at the First Unitarian Church in Alton, Illinois, on the corner of 3rd and Alby. This was my sister Julia Ann Thompson’s church and my cousin Irene Riehl’s church before her. Now it is the church of my niece and her husband and their daughters. My…
When I called my father this morning to hear his report from yesterday, he told me about several work and business accomplishments…and ended with a fun story about his playdate with an 8-year-old friend who lives down the hill from him. She loves to play with my father. At 91, he still has that spark,…
In between the tour of the new Alton High School in the morning and the evening reunion event, Curt Madison and his mother Grace Madison came across the river from Portage des Sioux, Missouri, where Curt inspected a roof for his brother Paul. Curt, his wife, and Grace had come to visit us at my…
Susan Tweit and Jane Kirkpatrick tagged me for the EIGHT RANDOM FACTS meme which, upon doing a google search, I discovered is going around the blogging world like measles. Who knew? What’s a Meme, Mom? Here’s how Susan Tweit defines a meme:” The word originated with British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who used it first…
Today on Riehlife I’m featuring two poems that came to me simultaneously from my father, Erwin A. Thompson, and my writing friend Arletta Dawdy. Both, curiously, sound similar chords, perhaps on different instruments, so I wanted to run them together. Artletta’s poem presents a coming of age story…a searching and a finding that goes beyond…
Poets. Org has a wonderful list of 30 things to do to celebrate poetry month (April, right?). 31) But, here’s one they haven’t thought of. My father, Erwin A. Thompson, encloses a poem along with his bill to the Great Central Lumber Company. The women down there enjoy this so much that when once he…
A downhome family love story beyond death told in accessible story poems and archival photos. Janet Grace Riehl’s “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” received honorable mention recognition in the 2007 DIY Book Festival contest. A beautiful collection filled with 90 poems, 190 pages, 25 photos and tribute to a loved family. Sightlines offers a frank portrait…
Story Poems — Of And For The Families Of The World by Janet Grace Riehl tr”> Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary Dedicated to my mother, Ruth Evelyn Johnston Thompson Writers Read, Ukiah, California
Talk, reading, and book signing at Harwood Art Center Albuquerque, New Mexico July 16, 2006 2-3 p.m. “Show Me the Way to Go Home” (song) Show me the way to go home. I’m tired and I want to go to bed (hum) Wherever I may roam—o’er land or sea or foam— You will always hear…
Selections from Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary by Janet Grace Riehl www.sightlinesbook.com Second Reading Bookstore Alton, Illinois April 15, 2006 1-3 p.m. The other day my father recalled the first time he’d heard the phrase “extended family.” We visited Makalamabedi—the place where the two rivers meet. This was the village in Botswana where I’d lived for…