Catherine Sevenau

Opener of doors, teller of tales, family scribe.

Talk to the Hand

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Different Strokes ~ The grandkids are here most Friday nights. Now that he's older, Satchel sleeps in the downstairs bedroom while Temple still sleeps with me. She wants a Taser for her birthday. Here's the difference between these two... He was three the first time he spent the night (she was not … [Read more...]

Fashion Police

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Righteous Indignation ~ I picked up my granddaughter from school on her third day of kindergarten. “So, how was it?” “Well,” she says, arms akimbo, “they have a lot of rules here.” “Like what?" “You can’t throw rocks, you can't throw the bark, you can’t tear the leaves off the bushes, you can’t … [Read more...]

Casper and Kale

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Casper ~ We’re on the couch watching Casper cartoons on my iPad, and Temple, who's four, says, "Have you noticed that I haven’t pulled on your old skin today?" Little Miss Blue Eyes has this thing about tweaking the flesh on the back of my hand and watching it remain in a wrinkled peak. I said, … [Read more...]

Stage Right

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The Hedonist and the Refugee ~ Satchel was all fun, fun, fun. “Can we go to the movies and to the toy store and bake cookies and play dominoes and can you read me a book and can we draw dragons together and then can we go to the park, can we huh? huh? I ask, “All in the next three hours? He says, … [Read more...]

Conversations With the Boy

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Time Wounds all Heels ~ Satchel doesn't call him Grandpa, he calls him Bob. My ex has our grandson over for a swim and we are tag-teaming having him for the week-end. Bob lives a few blocks away on Garland and the two of them were playing cowboys and Indians—or maybe it was cops and robbers—while … [Read more...]

Inquiring Minds

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First sleepover (age 3) ~ "Oma, do you wear jammies?  "Not always, but for you, I'll wear jammies." As we get tucked into bed, I give him a goodnight peck on the cheek. He side-eyes the leopard print pajamas my friend Kay Grether gave me and says, "Nice jammies!" "Thank you, Satchel. I love … [Read more...]

Angels and Bees

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An Ancient Being ~ It was the day after his birth that I held my grandson for the first time. I remember having this tiny creature cradled in my arm, peering into his dark eyes, thinking he looked nothing like a baby, but more like a wise and ancient being. A week later I brought my stepmother, … [Read more...]

Important Instructions

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Instructions for Satchel ~ Email correspondence regarding my grandson at age 4; Brooke is my daughter-in-law, his mother: (from me) Hi Brooke, I’m leaving today for Carmel and then Southern California and returning this weekend, so I won't be here to keep my usual date with Satchel on Thursday. … [Read more...]

For the Mothers

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ON THIS MOTHER'S DAY To the women (and men) who've mothered me over the years. To those I've mothered, and to those who've shared that mothering with me. To those caring for their elder or infirm mothers, swapping roles. To those who've lost their mother. To those whose mother has lived a long life … [Read more...]

What’s in a Name?

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First grandchild ~ It was a difficult delivery, going from natural childbirth to emergency Cesarean over the course of a two-day labor, and everyone was tremendously relieved when both mother and infant safely made it through the ordeal. Matt calls from the hospital the day after the baby is born. … [Read more...]

Murderers and Fortune Cookies

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A Day in the City ~ Thinking it would be fun, Satchel and I took a day trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown, Ghirardelli Square, and Pier 39, and made it there and back, though barely. Going, we missed the Larkspur Ferry by ten minutes, so we had to wait for the next one. Finally boarding, we … [Read more...]

Small Fry Reveries

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Television ~ "Oma, you don’t have a television," Satchel says to me in surprise. “You’ve known me for four years, and you’ve just noticed?” “Why don’t you like TV?” “I didn’t say I didn’t like TV, I just don’t have one.” “Did you ever?” “Of course. I had one when your dad and Jon were growing up, … [Read more...]

Got Eggs?

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Easter 1999 ~ I’m in the back seat of Ed’s green Pathfinder with my friend Kayla, who is three, and we’re on the way to an Easter gathering at Wally and PJ’s place. Ed and Elaina (her grandparents, who are raising her) are in front. Kayla shows me the contents of her colored wicker basket and … [Read more...]

Dead People, Fairies, and Hitler

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Dead People ~ “Oma, there’s dead people under those rocks, you know.” I glance over my shoulder to see what Satchel is talking about. My grandson, who is four, is commenting from his car seat about the small cemetery to our left on East Napa. “I know Satchel, that’s where they put our bodies when we … [Read more...]

Matching Red Noses

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2006 ~ My grandson is three, and this is my second time to have him for an extended period at night. Brooke and Matt are in San Francisco, returning around 11:00. We spend the afternoon and evening at my house doing all the things we love to do together: cooking, eating, and reading the books I … [Read more...]

Dragons and Tutus

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The Grandkids • July 2009, Sonoma, California ~ Brooke and the kids are visiting in Sonoma for a month. My son and his family moved to Vancouver, Canada last year—they had the nerve to not only move there, but to take my grandchildren with them—and this is their first time back. Satchel is … [Read more...]

Disturbing the Dead, Annoying the Living

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What calls us to find the ancestors? It goes beyond a simple curiosity. We are taken over, compelled, as if possessed by something bigger than us, begging to be revealed. There is one of us in almost every family called to be the scribe. I am but one of many in our clan’s long line of storytellers. … [Read more...]

Lineages

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(Listen to Audio) I am. I am from Leinen and Nigon, from Chamberlin and Hoy. I am from Clemens and Chatfield, from Surdam, Sumner, Smith, Shade, Mastick, and Tomlinson too. From Matthew, Isaac, Finley, and Charles. From Barbara, Eliza, Emily, and Nellie. I am from soldiers who fought for the Union … [Read more...]

The Chatfield Story

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Dec 26, 1894, Fruita, Mesa County, Colorado ~ In a ceremony in her parents' home, twenty-one-year-old Nellie Chamberlin, married Charles Henry Chatfield, a ranching man of twenty-four. Nellie was a no-nonsense Catholic girl and exceedingly religious, but she also had a … [Read more...]

Civil War Journal of Finley Chamberlin

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Finley McLaren "Frank" Chamberlin: 1845 - 1905 ~ My maternal great-grandfather, the father of Nellie (Chamberlin) Chatfield, my mother's mother. Military: Civil War, Union Army Aug 15, 1861: 9th Regmt Mich Infantry, Co I; private (age 15 yr, 11 mo) Dec 7, 1863: Re-enlists in same company; sergeant … [Read more...]

Isaac and Eliza Chatfield

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Isaac Willard "I.W." Chatfield: 1836 - 1921 Ohio to California ~ Isaac Willard Chatfield, my paternal great-grandfather, was born in 1836 in Middlefield, Ohio, the first of four children of Levi Tomlinson Chatfield and Lovina Mastick. Isaac married the young Eliza Ann Harrington on May 20, … [Read more...]

A Love Story

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Sweet Scoops ~ While waiting by the register for my sundae at Sweet Scoops, a pint-sized child walks up next to me to where the paper napkins are. He’s not quite tall enough to reach them, and I catch the wire container just before he flips it off the shelf. “May I help you with a napkin?” I … [Read more...]

Emily and Those Hoy Boys

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As rivers cut canyons through Rockies to bays, the Hoys traveled westward in pioneer days. They fought for the Union (Frank, wounded in battle), then homesteaded Brown's Hole where they branded their cattle. They were ranchers and farmers and bull-whackers of yore, horse breeders, schoolteachers, … [Read more...]

Toss of the Cosmic Dice

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Why bother? I mean really? ~ They’re dead. Who cares about the past, and what difference does it make? But here’s the deal, sometimes we do something for its own sake, other times because we want to. And then, if for no other reason, just for the fun of it.  There was a five-year period … [Read more...]

Bloodlines (original version)

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This tale is a history, a fable, a prayer; of those gone before me, now gathered with care. Can’t start in the middle—too confusing, not clear, can’t start at the end—will be over I fear. So I’ll start from the first as far back as I can and nudge you along ’til you’ve met the whole clan. When you … [Read more...]