Dust, Dreams, and Deep Roots

Ouija Board        My younger cousin Danny frequently reminds me of the time we were in our backyard in San Jose, California, playing with my Ouija Board. There were five of us: Danny, David (brothers), me, my siblings Teresa and Billy. We were sitting on the concrete patio, very serious, trying to conjure up ghosts and spirits.    Danny always insists I was trying to raise our swing set using the Ouija Board. He would imitate me talking to the Ouija Board and laughing at me. He loves to tell this story and how I failed to raise our swing set. At one point, my father sneaks around and jumps at us, scaring us to death. We all must of jumped three feet in the air and screamed! To this day, he makes fun of me for believing in ghosts and spirits, and I remind him of how high he jumped when my dad scared us.        Copyright © 2026 by Jacqueline Threet Henderson, Dust, Dreams, and Deep Roots. All rights reserved.

I'm currently taking a class on Airtable taught by Amberly Beck. It's a seven-week course, and I feel it's been intense. There are parts I have had a very difficult time grasping, even after watching the recording again...slowly.  This week I decided to dive into creating a table of newspaper articles regarding my paternal Threet line. I used the site, " The Portal to Texas History ." This site was introduced to me by my friend Lisa.  I set my search parameters, and 55 articles came up from various newspapers, including the  Honey Grove Signal-Citizen s, The Bonham Herald , and  The Leonard Graphic , among others. I revisited some of the information a few times to determine what I wanted the Airtable base to do for me. In some of the tables, I'm still trying to figure this out.  The data entry has been time-consuming, but I have found some great information to use for the story I'm writing about my Dad and his family. The tables and information I'm com...

My grandparents always grew Kentucky Wonder green beans in the summer. I asked my Grandma one spring, if I grew the same beans, would she teach me how to can them. Of course, she agreed, so I planted lots of Kentucky Wonder green beans. At harvest time, we made a date and spent a day canning beans. She walked me through every step. She also told me of a few times the pressure built up and the pot lid would pop off, and beans would be everywhere, even on the ceiling. I had heard these stories, and I became a bit worried, but she assured me it would not happen. I still was not convinced and kept my eye on the pot. We ended up canning thirty jars that day, and I have that wonderful memory of standing at my Grandma’s stove with her. Copyright © 2025 by Jacqueline Threet Henderson, Jacqueline's Jaunts. All rights reserved.