I don’t take the day off very often. Dave almost never does. But yesterday we did, got in the car and drove up through New Jersey and New York, amidst the beautiful autumn foliage to visit our dear friend who suddenly lost his father earlier in the week. There was never any question that we [...]
The summer I turned 12, my parents signed me up for cooking and sewing classes. Although I disdained home ec in school, they were determined that I was NOT going to get out of learning the womanly arts. Except that, ultimately, I did. For a series of long hot days, I would report to my mom’s cousin’s [...]
We enter at our own risk with a sense of foreboding, wishing we were anywhere else on the planet but this stale smelling, sweat inducing tomb of a space. It’s sick enough that we adults must go forth into hell but what’s even worse, even more maniacal is that we bring along our innocent children [...]
Halloween fast approaches. I am actually relieved that there are no costume parties looming on our calendar this year. I am not a “Halloween Person.” This is one of the huge differences between me and my friend Lindsay. In many matters, we are in complete accord and agreement. She loves Halloween – the dressing up, the [...]
Having a child, I soon learned, is like having an open wound. People ask you about it. They give you advice and secret remedies. Friends tell you to ignore it for a while and see if it doesn’t heal itself. Everyone assures you that it won’t kill you. And then they show you their scars.” [...]
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 [...]
The Phillies are going to the World Series again! At the magic moment, the moment of victory, the culmination of the NCLS, I was fast asleep. I’ll admit it – I am a fair weather fan. But the term seems to carry an unnecessary negative connation. And given the choice between being a die hard [...]
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 [...]
Like many of you this past week I was more than a little appalled at the allegations that the “balloon boy’s” parents concocted the story that closed the Denver airport and cost thousands of dollars in police and rescue services. Yet I remain transfixed and continue to follow the “breaking news” developments on this train [...]
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 [...]
