May 09
My husband and I recently returned from a breathtaking cruise of the Rhine River from Amsterdam, Netherlands through Germany and France to Basel, Switzerland. We basked in the beauty of more than 7 million tulips blooming at Keukenhof Gardens, marveled at the 13th-century Gothic architecture of the Cologne Cathedral, spotted 30+ medieval castles along …
Apr 25
Ever feel like you need a vacation from cancer, dementia, ALS, heart disease or whatever health trial you’re facing? You probably do—at least a mental one and maybe a physical one as well. Believe it or not the chemo room at Dr. Marc Hirsh’s office, where I worked as a patient advocate for nearly 20 …
Jan 03
My 3-year-old granddaughter Abby is not the world’s best sleeper. She’s not the worst either, but definitely not as good as her brothers, ages 1 and 5. In fact she’s quite the master of “stalling” at bedtime and/or “needing” things in the middle of the night. You may be familiar with the toddlers’ universal …
Dec 06
Did I ever tell you about the time my father was attacked on a golf course? It’s true. After he retired, he worked part-time at a community golf course as a ranger riding one of those little golf carts. He knew there was a nesting goose on the course who had laid several eggs, …
Nov 29
Did you hear about the farmer who lived next door to a pessimist? If the farmer said “Isn’t is a beautiful sunny day?” the pessimist would reply, “We need rain.” If it rained and the farmer commented on how wonderful it was to have rain, the pessimist would reply, “It’ll probably ruin the crops.” …
Nov 14
As you can see I met Captain America recently—he actually stopped by my house the other day for a few hours. The Captain, a.k.a. grandson Benny, wanted to show me his new shield (Mommy, a.k.a. Wonder Woman-Shopper, found it in the Target clearance bin) and the pint-sized super hero clearly explained to me that …
Nov 01
My friend Bunnie is a redheaded, retired heavy equipment operator with a delightful New England accent who loves to laugh. On weekends she “clowns” around at the local Dairy Queen as she whips up balloons and smiles for children, while sharing God’s love for them. On weekdays she takes off her clown make-up and …
Oct 25
Anybody else old like me and remember the 1965 Anacin pain reliever commercial shown here? I was a pre-teen when that commercial appeared on the screen of our little black-and-white TV (with the aluminum foil on the rabbit ears) and my mom and I thought it was hilarious. We would joke around and …
Oct 17
Would you believe I met, shook hands with, and received a mini-apology from Muhammad Ali, aka “the Greatest”? In 1970, when I was a college freshman, my best friend, Jackie, and I went to hear Ali speak at our Mansfield branch campus of the Ohio State University. We were excited to …
Oct 11
I’m trying to keep in mind a saying my good friend Doris Martin often would use after something went wrong: “Well. if that’s the worst thing that happens to me today, it will be a pretty good day.” And for many disappointments in life, that phrase works well. It fits …
