We brought back the magic of 1977 to celebrate my 40th Birthday this past weekend. There was lots of great food, great disco music, great fashions, and great stories shared by all. But naturally, the best part of the whole evening was my friends and … Continue reading
President’s Day is not typically a great holiday. I mean, the day seems to be nice enough for school-children and government employees (who get the day off), as well as for people who sell cars or furniture (who seem to … Continue reading
Scrape, skritch, scratch, rake. Scrape, skritch, scratch, rake. I drag my bamboo rake along the lawn. I gather the leaves into piles. I gather the piles onto a tarp. I pull the tarp to the front of our property. I … Continue reading
We had a lovely afternoon with our international friends: warming ourselves by the open fire… carving pumpkins… eating kettle corn pumpkin bread, s’mores, and cider… and rebuilding the tower of Babel with Jenga blocks. It really was a lot of fun. For … Continue reading
The engine idles in the darkness: a hot hum that harmonizes with the chill chirp of a thousand crickets. It’s the end of a trip. The end of a summer. We are weary and wasted from fast food and sugary … Continue reading
I used to tell people that I lived in the “boring middle-part of America.” Factory towns separated by farm country: Ohio didn’t seem to offer much in the way of breathtaking natural spectacles like the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls. … Continue reading
When it comes to home improvement projects, I tend to have lots of “during” pictures and a few good “after”s — but I never think to start a project with a proper “before” picture! The best I can usually find … Continue reading
I’ve been growing my beard out for over a month now, but that doesn’t make me Bob Vila. It doesn’t even make me Al Borland. It just makes me a bearded guy with two left thumbs, when it comes to … Continue reading
I made pancakes for our family dinner yesterday evening: delicious, fluffy, American, buttermilk pancakes. There’s something special about breakfast food in the evening. But as much as I enjoyed the pancakes themselves, I was especially appreciative of the cookbook from which … Continue reading
Funny, isn’t it, how an entire vacation can often be encapsulated in a single incident or song or item? Normandy in 2011 would be “splatting stones in the tidal mud along the Seine.” The Dakotas in 2008 would be “pronghorn … Continue reading
