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 [...]
This is always the busiest week of the year for Chris and me, as we work doggedly, sparing no puns, to promote the Kennel Club of Philadelphia Dog Shows. Reporters hound us with last-minute demands, the public begs constantly for answers about strollers and cameras and wheelchairs, and the fur flies as we try to control [...]
Not far from our house was a big parcel of undeveloped land, full of woods and meadows. Several years ago, as new housing developments mushroomed across the countryside, we worried about this particular parcel. One day, while driving, we spotted a sign on the wild meadow. We could make out the word “Preserve” and we cheered. As [...]
Men care about sex, sports, and sexy sports cars. This is why the sports section contains ads for radial tires and “gentlemen’s” clubs. It’s why sports broadcasts contain commercials for little blue pills and curve-hugging cars. It’s why buxom women are draped over the hoods at auto shows, and, [...]
One of the joys of having older kids is the loosening of parental TV censorship. Also the fact that the boys have outgrown painful children’s shows. I’m still scarred by memories of Barney, Power Rangers and Keenan and Kel. Now, most of us can enjoy inappropriate shows together! A current favorite is Bored to Death. Ted Danson [...]
Because Chris is a rabid Phillies fan and purchased a 17-game plan this season, we had tickets to Game 3 of the Series. The parents got to go, while the boys hung out with friends and did Halloween things. The game was spooky enough for me. The weather was clammy, cold and rainy, delaying the [...]
After his bout with swine flu, Malcolm was hoping to get back to school and go on a field trip to Colonial Philadelphia yesterday. This was to tie in with the book the 7th graders are currently reading, all about the yellow fever outbreak. Malcolm is a bit of an expert on plagues. He laid out [...]
Malcolm has swine flu. On Sunday night, despite fabulous seats at an exciting Phillies playoff game, he was apathetic. The next day, when he was coughing, feverish, and saying that it hurt his eyes to look up, I had a sense of foreboding. The pediatrician did a nasal swab Monday night, and on Tuesday the verdict was [...]
Thanks to our friend Tracy who turned 50 last week, we got to experience an enchanted autumn evening at a mansion in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park on Saturday night. And because of the thoughtful event planning of her husband Woody, we got to turn the clock back, oh, 200 years or so, and pretend to be of the prosperous [...]
