About: Margaret Vander Weerdt

Coloring books aren’t just for kids anymore. According to various news reports, coloring books for adults are flying off store shelves. I think I was an early bird on this one. I’ve always enjoyed coloring with nieces, nephews, kids, and grandkids and now it’s the latest fad. Adult coloring books are among the top sellers...

In the middle of July, there aren’t many topics in my tickler file to write about. I did find this to share because it is so very, very true. Why do I have a variety of friends who are all so different in character? How is it possible that I can get along with them all? I think...

July 12 is Brown Bag Day. Grab a paper grocery bag or a paper lunch bag, and try your hand at making a fun craft. Remember the puppets you could create with the box-bottom brown paper bags? Or the valentine “mail boxes” decorated in hopes of a valentine from the cutest and nicest boy or...

Besides the common meaning of a heavy ornamental fabric in the form of a picture for a wall hanging, tapestry also means a colorful and complicated situation. To me, that sums up what we call life, especially these days as the world we live in becomes more and more complicated. As I approach another year of...

When we’re little, we learn about the four seasons and the climate changes that accompany each. I’m happy to have grown up in a region where I could experience a noticeable change in seasons as that isn’t the case everywhere. While I appreciate all the seasons, I prefer the warmth summer brings. Yes, the changing...

I recently saw some great stuff on my favorite website, dictionary.com: Eight ways to say congratulations. It’s an exciting time of year for graduates of high school, college, and graduate schools. These students and their families are celebrating this mark of achievement. There are hundreds of stories that could be told about the difficulties and hard...

I struggle with whether we should say, “Happy Memorial Day.” It makes perfect sense to say “Happy birthday,” “Happy New Year,” “Happy Fourth of July,” “Happy Mother’s and Father’s Day,” “Happy Easter,” etc. But is Memorial Day really happy? Isn’t “Happy Memorial Day” an oxymoron? Isn’t it like wishing someone a happy anniversary of a...