christinecutler. . .

An aunt is a safe haven for a child.

Someone who will keep your secrets

& is always on your side.

~ Sara Sheridan

Today would have been my Aunt Margie's 108 or 109th birthday.  She'd kill me for telling you that.

Aunt Margie wasn't one for admitting her age, so I'm not qu...

Mike and I had lunch with friends today and headed home afterwards since we had an electrician coming to the house at 2:00. Since we had about 90 minutes until the appointment, I asked MIke if we could make a quick stop at the grocery first.

We were driving south on Tow...

What do you take on the plane with you when you travel?  My personal item contains everything I need to keep me calm and occupied during the flight—iPad, iPod, iPhone, MacBook, journal, pens—and items I need before and after boarding—tickets, hotel/car confirmations, I...

An Open Letter to the Anonymous Neighbor Who Put That Venomous Flyer in Our Mailbox Because He Disagrees With Our Political Choices

Dear Coward:

I would like to thank you for placing your homemade, venomous flyer in our mailbox—against the law as it was for you to do so—...

"Tempo al tempo"

"All in good time"

~ Italian Proverb

As I mentioned in my last post about doing research in Italy, we spent time one day walking the ValleLarga to see if we could find anyone to talk to us about my grandmother's family, the Crugnales. One young man whom w...

“Sometimes the questions are

complicated, and the answers

are simple.”

~ Dr. Seuss

Or sometimes, the answers are just as — or more — complicated than the answers.

If I've learned anything while doing research into my grandmother's life, I've found that the answers to t...

"I love the language,

that soft bastard Latin,

Which melts like kisses

from a female mouth;

And sounds as if it

should be writ on satin

with syllables which

breathe of the sweet South."

~ George Gordon Lord Byron

My grandmother was functionally illiterate. Her mother died...

Children don’t think much about their ancestry. The important thing to them is the “now,” not the “then.”  I was no different. I was young, and my grandparents were old. I attended school, read books, watched television, played with friends, ran through my youth, bliss...

 August, 2010

I am second generation American. Until a few years ago, I hadn't given much thought to that fact. I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, a city built by immigrant labor in the early 20th Century. All of my friends had similar backgrounds – grandparents from the “...