by drcrocker | May 17, 2021 | Uncategorized
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in 1966 to be precise, I found myself moving with my Dutch parents from Canada to Iowa. Thus, through no fault of my own, I found myself with several difficult questions to answer. As an immigrant with parents whose parents had been...
by drcrocker | Sep 8, 2020 | Uncategorized
A couple of weeks ago, I spent some time helping my mother, the subject of Brave Face: A Half-Dutch Half-German Child Growing up in the Shadow of WWII, sort photos. Naturally, her parents feature heavily in the book about her childhood. So, it was interesting to find...
by drcrocker | Aug 25, 2020 | Uncategorized
I am the eldest of five children. As such, it appears that I am still considered the go-to person, and I like to think that my siblings still respect my opinions. Well, I can like to think it anyway! Just recently, I spent some time helping my widowed mother...
by drcrocker | May 26, 2020 | Uncategorized
Visiting some of my grandchildren last week, one of them showed me what she can do. Yup, that’s her way up in the tree. Amazingly, she came down as easily as she went up. It reminded me of a long, long time ago when my now 55-year-old twin brothers got stuck in a Fir...
by drcrocker | Apr 14, 2020 | Uncategorized
The other day, I was reminiscing with my mother, who is staying with me while we are self-isolating during this pandemic. She read through the first draft of my second middle-grade chapter book, which is currently called “Ireentje Makes Waves.” The title is a work in...
by drcrocker | Mar 26, 2020 | Uncategorized
So, Guys, I need your input on this chapter. You see, it is very anachronistic for girls to attend Charm School. How can I explain it? Any suggestions? The girl scout leader had good news. Younkers, the department store in the middle of Des Moines, was offering girls...
by drcrocker | Mar 13, 2020 | Uncategorized
The next day, the family set off for Colorado. Dad asked the children if they would like to drive to the tippy top of a mountain. Robert thought it would be cool, but Caroline wasn’t so sure. As you know, she was afraid of heights. But, she figured that, if she sat on...
by drcrocker | Mar 4, 2020 | Uncategorized
Having finished the books that were burning inside me, I’ve recently been spending some time learning about how to write, promote, and sell books. Maybe I have things backwards, but there’s a reason I called my first autobiographical book, “Ireentje Learns the Hard...
by drcrocker | Feb 19, 2020 | Uncategorized
Over the past few days, I’ve been working on a new book: ‘Ireentje Makes Waves: The Adventures of a Dutch Immigrant Child in Iowa’. Such fun to allow my mind to wander back to those days in Iowa before I reached my teens. So instructional to realize that some of the...
by drcrocker | Feb 11, 2020 | Uncategorized
Soon after meeting Robbie, Jamie invited him to join his cub scout troop. Robbie loved it, especially when a zookeeper visited the troop. He talked all about the animals. Then he told the children that the Des Moines Zoo was opening up a snake exhibit. They needed...
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