A big birthday!

Nittany, our Lhasa Apsa – Bichon Frise, has a big week coming up. The grand dame is turning 14. In doggy years, she’s two years shy of celebrating her 100th birthday. She doesn’t get around like she used to, she walks gingerly up our stairs, she needs the occasional help getting off our couch, but... Continue Reading →

The House at Pooh Corner

English author A.A. Milne came up with the idea for Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in 1921 after he watched his son Christopher Robin play with his stuffed animals and saw him give them various voices and character traits. Christopher’s stuffed bear, originally named Edward, was renamed Winnie-the-Pooh after they visited the London Zoo and fell in... Continue Reading →

Where’s the instruction manual?

When you first become a parent, the maternity nurses and staff are saints. They check frequently on your darling new baby; help the mother get comfortable with breast-feeding, if that's your desire; physically check the backseat of your car to make sure that you have the carseat correctly locked in; and even hold your hand... Continue Reading →

Tonka Memories

My wife and I were out on a recent Saturday, and she wanted to make a quick pit stop at Target. I can't even tell you now what we were shopping for, dog food perhaps? Maybe toilet paper? Whatever it was, it wasn't the sexiest of products. I gave my wife a questioning look, but... Continue Reading →

Fourteen precious minutes

I’ve been thinking about some of the things you can accomplish in 14 minutes.  I can go for a brisk mile walk. I can read a chapter in my book. I can watch the opening scenes of The Godfather, where Vito Corleone listens to requests from friends and neighbors, who've come to celebrate his daughter Connie's... Continue Reading →

Career advice from my son

Last year, when I suggested to my youngest son, who was still in high school at the time, that I might get my emergency certification and become a substitute teacher, he laughed. I’m not talking about a “yea, right laugh” full of sarcasm, I’m talking about a full-blown belly laugh like it was the best... Continue Reading →

Santa’s watchful eye!

My wife and I came down with a cough and cold recently and I went to CVS Pharmacy to get something to help with the symptoms. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, so I was reading the back of the packages to see what would work best. I had been reading the back of one... Continue Reading →

Some Mountain State love

We had barely pulled into Morgantown for a visit with our son, a freshman at West Virginia University, when he had asked us to make a Target run. When we got back to his dorm, he pulled the shopping bags out of our SUV like they were coming off an assembly line, handing them out... Continue Reading →

Love you forever

When our kids were young, we used to read them the book “Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw. The mother in the story holds her new baby and slowly rocks him back and forth, singing: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll love you for always, as long as I’m living my... Continue Reading →

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