He’s home! Last night, there was our prodigal son, walking down the airport corridor with a newly grown beard and a big smile. Heading swiftly towards him was our middle son, bestowing on Ian a manhug. And racing at top speed with a huge grin on his face was our lastborn, heading into a full bear hug with [...]
I suffered through years of Candyland. Queen Frostine was my most bitter enemy, and Chutes and Ladders was not much better. Sitting on the floor with my tow-headed toddlers, spinning a little dial, setting up tiny trains, or putting together Legos was, frankly, incredibly boring. Not to mention physically painful. At least I was spared the Barbie [...]
This week, I am extremely happy to have a friend visiting from Los Angeles. Her name starts with L and she was born in the winter, so she is qualified to be my close friend. We were on-line friends first, meeting each other in a shady little internet room for women who are crazy about antique [...]
A frigid iceman crept into our lives yesterday. At the crack of dawn, Chris got rotator cuff surgery. He was home by noon, hooked up to his Iceman machine, trying to get comfortable in the new recliner that someone had told him was a must for recovery. For the rest of the day, he watched [...]
On Friday night, I was all by myself in the kitchen, preparing to cook. Usually, the TV is blaring ESPN or the Simpsons. But those who control the telecommando were out of the house. Oh bliss! I could actually watch something of MY CHOICE. I wanted something comforting, something beautiful. So from the TV cabinet, I pulled a two [...]
Yesterday I heard an interview on NPR with Steve Poses, a food guru of Philadelphia who has a new cookbook. He had lots of tips on cooking turkey and stuffing and such, but my favorite bits of advice were his hints on what not to do to your hosts on Thanksgiving. The following four tips are [...]
Ian is now nearing the end of his travels in Europe. I’m thinking of this as his S and Vowel tour: Spain-Sweden-Scotland-Estonia-England-Ireland. Not the actual order of travel. I switched Scotland and Estonia to make the gimmick work better. For the next week or so, he will be with our friends Todd and Suzanne and their [...]
After being in school all day, Hugh and Malcolm rush home to get on Facebook and carry on yet more important social interactions with their friends. Scintillating conversations like “Take this down,” and “Jk haha” and “no duh” can occupy hours. My favorite line from one of Hugh’s friends, after a string of stupid comments [...]
Although I love MAD MEN, there’s another MAD I’m mad about. MAD Magazine. A big shout-out to my mom for recognizing the brilliance of MAD way back in the 1960s. She – a Midwestern Baptist Sunday School teacher with a degree in English and zero tolerance for pomposity – used to be our supplier when we [...]
Our boys refuse to use what we call the “kids’ computer.” I don’t know why – it’s giant, beige, steam-powered, and sits on an abandoned desk. The monitor portion is as deep as an oven. And although it is possible to get on the internet using this cast-off monstrosity, it takes “a long time” – maybe 40 seconds, versus [...]
