Month: January 2006

  • learning to ride without training wheels

    A new bike: $75 Training wheels to learn how to ride it: $12 Riding without them: Priceless. A child’s first two-wheeled bike ride captures the angst, the joy, the exhilaration of growing up. Our first did not get the option of training wheels. His dad held the bike steady as the child climbed up on…

  • Marriage pays off!

    After 34 years of marriage, I have one thing to say: Marriage is not easy. Some days – some years – we survived as a couple, not so much because we clung to each other as we clung stubbornly to those vows of “for better, for worse, for sickness and health, till death do us…

  • Got some dough?

    The most luxurious hotel stay I have ever had began with the clerk handing us a pair of large, hot, chocolate chip cookies stuffed with chips and nuts. We controlled ourselves and simply breathed in the warm perfume of hot chocolate as we carried them to our room – where we promptly ate every crumb.…

  • meeting a perfect neighbor

    Just when you think you have slipped anonymously away from the old home town, up will walk a perfect neighbor and greet you warmly. The man of my life and I decided to celebrate the holidays in a city closer to our far flung children. We resigned ourselves to a quiet Christmas day with one…

  • Hidden wonders await us

    In this New Year look up, down and all around to discover the lost and hidden wonders of the world and universe. Begin by lifting eyes heavenward for a reminder that much remains to discovered in the vast corners of the universe. Late in December, astronomers announced that, aided by the Hubble Space Telescope, they…