As I shopped recently for the little ones in my family, I looked for books, modeling clay and trinkets. I thought about their temporary value. Past gifts have been outgrown or broken, used up or passed on. They cost only a little money and some time. The act of giving…
Read moreI amused myself last week looking at some free hints on a website where I had contributed my DNA analysis. At the time I got the DNA results, there were some surprises in heritage. In studying the records of ancestors that the website shared, I learned a hidden family secret.…
Read moreMy heart goes back in this season to one of the earliest songs I associate with Thanksgiving. Several of us sixth graders were asked to practice it for a PTA assembly. (Yes, it was a different time). I vaguely remember how nervous I was to sing the old-fashioned words, but…
Read moreI’m fascinated and a bit saddened by the phrase ”mass media influencer.” It seems there are people who make a living “influencing” others to buy, to protest, to join and to share –all of it via social media. It’s a new medium, but the idea is as old as the…
Read moreWe had two-tenths of an inch of measurable rain in September. October, the area’s driest month, remained that way for so long. For six long hot weeks, the weatherman sounded like a broken record and signs posted at the fire department and the district forestry office about the high fire…
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