Judy Sheer Watters's Blog, page 4
March 9, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: Remembering the Healthy Diet of Old
When I was a student in Home Economics class in the 60s, I learned the pyramid of healthy eating. Growing up on a farm, I knew we had a somewhat balanced diet. We consumed lots of homemade bread, ate fruit from the orchard and vegetables fresh from the garden. We ate beef, ham/pork and chicken […]
March 7, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: Which Teachers made an Impact on You?
I saw school as fun and exciting and couldn’t wait to get there every morning. Many special teachers crossed my path from elementary through high school. Mrs. Baynes, my seventh and eighth grade Latin and Ancient History teacher, intertwined the two subjects and made that entire historical time frame come alive—Julius Caesar, the Apian Way, […]
March 5, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: When did your educational light bulb go off?
It happened in first grade for me. For some reason, I have never forgotten the exact happening and the person responsible. At Mrs. Olsen’s directions, my classmates dutifully took one paper and handed the rest to the child who sat behind them. At least, that’s what they were supposed to do. The girl who sat […]
February 28, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: What childhood pets still bring fond memories for you?
Growing up on the farm in Pennsylvania led to our family adopting many stray dogs and cats over the years. It seemed that all strays who wandered on our property or were intentionally dropped off there quickly assumed our home to be their home. We just took it in stride. Mom never bought dog food, […]
February 23, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: What was your first paying job?
Babysitting was my first paying job at 25¢ an hour. At fifteen, I gave up my sister’s bridal shower for the opportunity to make a whopping $1.50. I babysat for a single mom, a nurse, with six kids for, yes, 25¢ an hour. She worked until 2:00 a.m. and I was expected to make dinner, […]
February 21, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: How Many Bleaches have You Warmed?
When I was a child, sports didn’t have much of an impact in our home. Too busy with farm work for our parents to drive us back into town for practices or games. My husband introduced me to the world of sports—all kinds of sports—anything that involved a round or oval sphere of leather. Our […]
February 19, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: How did You Celebrate Presidents’ Day?
When I was a child in the 50s and 60s, we celebrated Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12th and George Washington’s birthday on February 22nd. Starting in first grade, we studied these two great leaders in depth and what they did for America. Both days were seen as holidays, but we still went to school. […]
February 15, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: Did you lick any cows’ tongues in your childhood?
I did, for a split second. I was a farm girl, why not? And Mom cooked cow tongue for our dining pleasure. I spent several childhood days looking for dead birds so my siblings and I could have a funeral and bury the dear soul under the huge oak tree. My sister never dared to […]
February 13, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day as a child?
To make the prettiest valentine box ever seemed to be my goal every year in grade school. Using colored tissue paper, construction paper, and, sometimes, newspaper gave me so much material for my creative mind. I folded red construction paper and cut out hearts to paste on the box. However, it never failed that by […]
February 12, 2018
Memoir Writing Prompt: When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
This is one of those lessons I learned very young in life. Even though Mom never seemed to be able to stretch her grocery money far enough to include anything other than powdered cocoa, I have always loved chocolate. Chocolate milk, hot chocolate, Hershey’s chocolate bar, chocolate kisses, etc. etc., etc . . . right […]
