Anyone who knows me at all, knows how important family is in my world. It is not just about those in my immediate circle. I appreciate all family – mine and everyone else’s too. I also appreciate being a student of family. I am always taken with how our ancestors came to be together from generations before. I will tell a story – and one that …
I am, admittedly, horrible with remembering people’s names and faces. There have been a countless number of times wherein someone will say hello to me, by name, and I have no idea who the person is. My husband and I actually have it “down to a system.” If someone says hello to me and I do not introduce them to my husband he is well aware that I p …
A few weeks back I updated one of my playlists with a Traffic song -- Many A Mile to Freedom -- that played on "my" AppleMusic radio station while Shelly and I took a drive to the "mall." When I opened the "Playlists" folder on my MacBook I found an unfinished one (from the summer of 2022); a list of songs but no links to YouTube; I also found i n …
As spring approaches, many of you might be looking at your grills wondering what you might be cooking this year. For me, I'm a year-round griller/smoker but the better weather allows me to smoke longer with more consistency, not always having to tend to the fire. I was asked last night for my recipe for smoking baby back ribs. So here it is (d …
I am enamored by the word Puppy (and puppies too)! It is such a positive, loving, warm word, as in "Puppy Love" and all things sweet and adorable ❤️ By strict definition a Puppy is a young (less than 1 year) dog. Yet in my mind our Charcoal (an 11 year old Schnoodle pictured) is still a puppy and, yes, I am still in puppy love with her. She is swee …
One of our favorite restaurants is Ada’s on the River in Alexandria, Virginia. It is named and themed after Ada Lovelace, known for her revolutionary impact on mathematics and computing in the early nineteenth century. She is also referred to as the first computer hacker.My favorite cocktail at Ada’s was the Lord Byron, appropriately named after Ad …
If you are like me (and most of the self employed working world) you both look forward to and somewhat dread vacation time. Why? Because you work like a crazy person before vacation so you can enjoy your time away, knowing when you return you will just have to "rinse and repeat"! We were away for 2 weeks. i spent the first couple of days acclimati …
And fantastic! We are great fans of local theatre. Frankly, we are great fans of theatre anywhere. Make it a musical, and we are in heaven. I can pretty much guarantee that we are the singing and swaying couple at most musicals. Recently we went to see A Chorus Line at The Argyle Theatre in Babylon, Long Island. What a wonderful performance. …
Recently my family, consisting of eight adults and two very young children took a trip to Costa Rica together. On the way to Costa Rica, we had a two-hour layover in Miami. Unfortunately, the first flight left New York over an hour late, leaving us very little time—less than 45 minutes-- to get our large party through the Miami airport to our secon …
Two weeks ago yesterday on my way back from bringing in dinner, I notice fallen tree branches on my sidewalk. Blocking it. I moved them against the tree pit and which extends about 12 feet. The larger of the two fallen branch still block access from the curb/street as it extends about 20 feet. Shelly took this picture and I submitted it as p …
Is anyone else watching this on Hulu? It's a tragic comedy based in Chicago. I think this is a breakthrough series, similar to "Breaking Bad," that will change how series are made. It centers around a family in Boston and starts at a specific point in time, but goes into the past, filling out reasons for relationships through the exploration of t …
Recently we bought a new mattress. The process was a complex one during which we were tested and we tested many mattress options. Price aside (inflation is real), it was a complicated trial and error process. Eventually we decided on a thick pillow top mattress with new (full) box springs. Then it happened, our new bed was delivered and assembl …
Herb always knew when we were away for the weekend or a vacation. If we forgot to tell him in advance, he would call as soon as he realized the car was gone.“Hey kids. You away again? When will you be back? And, do you want me to put in the papers?”“And, I love that bread you brought back last time.”Herb was the perfect neighbor.Living side by side …
There is always something special about getting a new car, be it leased or more so, in my opinion, when getting one that is purchased for the long haul. My wife’s 2017 Subaru Forester XT (turbo and very sporty for an SUV) was a special purchase for us when we traded in our last family minivan as we downsized a bit. Back then, we cross shopped many …
Recently, I was privy to the following dilemma. A local mom complained that she sends birthday cards gifts to her grown children, their spouses and her grandchildren every year but over the last number of years there has been no sign of any reciprocation. What should she do was the question of the moment? The universal opinion was to keep send …
