JESSIE VEEDER
THE LOST ITALIAN Staking our claim as North Dakotans
Last week Tony and I had the opportunity to give a presentation at the North Dakota Bloggers and Writers Workshop, an annual event sponsored by the North Dakota Departments of Tourism and Commerce. ...
Posted on 4/22/14 at 7:02 PM
Coming Home: There’s always a way for dreams to come true 
She stood on the edge of a stage facing a dimmed room. In the back, the coffee had been poured, the sugar cookies placed neatly on colorful napkins, and now it was show time.
By Jessie Veeder , May 24, 2014
Coming Home: Summer a time to honor our childhood
Remember the days when learning about the passage of time was a fun thing? Counting the seconds in a minute and marking off the boxes on mom’s wall calendar in a birthday party countdown was met with a sort of anticipation that made the cake so much sweeter and the water balloon fight you had planned so much more thrilling.
By Jessie Veeder , May 17, 2014
Coming Home: Bending the rules ends in surprise infestation
We were told not to go swimming in the beaver dam behind the house, the dam tucked down between the steep banks of the tree-littered coulee. The one with the most frogs and water bugs and mystery.
By Jessie Veeder , May 10, 2014
Coming Home: Some things in life are just uncomplicated
I don’t remember the first time I was on a horse. I was too young I suppose. Possibly in my dad’s lap, my little body wedged in behind his arm and the saddle horn as he maneuvered us around the barnyard, three creatures combined, connected and moving slowly, feeling out our world.
By Jessie Veeder , May 03, 2014
Coming Home: When the great outdoors venture inside
When the ground thaws at the ranch, all the creatures that flew away, crawled into nooks to sleep, migrated south or played dead on the windowsill of the house start warming up, coming to life and emerging.
By Jessie Veeder , April 26, 2014
Coming Home: Childhood Easter egg hunts helped us find more than candy
I’m 6 years old, and the wind is blowing a chill across my face, making my eyes water and the fuzz that escaped my stocking cap flip in an attempt to fly away. My mom zipped my coat up to my chin, hiding the top of my Easter dress and leaving the frills to float above my snow boots, creating a perfect uniform for a task that required agility and patience, athleticism and all of Spider-man’s senses.
By Jessie Veeder , April 19, 2014
Coming Home: When I grow up, I want to …
When I grow up, I want to be the kind of woman who lets her hair grow long, wild and silver. I hope I remember to keep my flannel shirts draped over chairs, hanging in the entryway and sitting on the seat of the pickup where they are ready and waiting for me to pull them on and take off somewhere, the scent of horsehair on the well-worn sleeve.
By Jessie Veeder , April 12, 2014
Coming Home: Yellow boat never meant for fishing
Over the hill in the barnyard and behind the old garage, covered by a tarp and a fresh dusting of spring snow, sits a little yellow boat on a little trailer.
I want to talk about this boat because it’s April now, and it’s time to start making plans to cast a catfish line, pull on some cutoffs and grill something, already.
By Jessie Veeder , April 05, 2014
Coming Home: Adventures of Sock Boy, Crazy Aunt
I was standing at the kitchen counter cutting chicken for dinner, watching and laughing as his little legs took him flying. Around the coffee table, past the couch, down the hall and back again, stopping short every few steps to scrunch up his eyebrows, he held up his arms and made a noise that indicated he was stopping something evil.
By Jessie Veeder , March 29, 2014
Coming Home: We’re not all reckless in oil country
The snow has thawed, slowly revealing a brown, muddy world, one littered with things forgotten under the five-month blanket. A pile of wood, a stack of leftover pallets, shingles from an unfinished garage roof sit just where we left them.
By Jessie Veeder , March 22, 2014
Coming Home: Winter blues washed away by spring melt
Our world is thawing. The snow in the trees is moving and flowing, cutting through banks and muddy ground, making rivets and dents and a big ’ol beautiful mess of things around here.
By Jessie Veeder , March 15, 2014
Coming Home: Bus driver taught lessons that stick with us as adults
I was taking a drive with dad the other day – heading back to the ranch from town after dropping my car off at the shop and in between an exchange about this endless winter – when dad told me George died.
By Jessie Veeder , March 08, 2014
Coming Home: These North Dakota hips don't lie
So I took a Zumba class the other day.
I know, I know. I’m way behind on this fitness phenomenon that gets us all together in a big room to cha-cha, salsa, and drop it like it’s hot in the name of Latin music and exercise.
By Jessie Veeder , March 01, 2014
Coming Home: Northern accent perfect for telling story of my town
Last week I stood in line at a convenience store in Boomtown, behind a man in Carhartts and steel-toe boots, in front of a woman running in for a snack and a potty break with her toddler, and surrounded by dozens of characters shuffling around the man mopping the melted snow off the floor in search of coffee, cigarettes, a slice of pizza – something to help them through the rest of a working day.
By Jessie Veeder , February 22, 2014
Coming Home: Boomtown makes room for travel center in old schoolyard
It’s not open yet, but the big black and yellow sign sits stuck in the frozen ground to remind me and the 10 million trucks and pickups that pass on the intersecting highways that it’s coming soon.
By Jessie Veeder , February 15, 2014
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