Are you getting choked up about poor Princess Beatrice of England, who may need to postpone her wedding yet again? Me neither. We’re all figuring out this new Coronavirus lifestyle. And a good many of us are doing what we can to make the best of it. Take John & Aubrie, for example. They’ve been planning their April 18 wedding for nearly a year. Very traditional, very sweet. No one could have guessed COVID-19 had other plans in mind. After…
Okay, so this made me cry. Saturday night, the hashtag #HighRiskCovid19 started trending on Twitter. I know, I know, I’ve heard over and over, “I don’t get Twitter. It’s stupid.” Well, use of hashtags is where Twitter truly shines. Trust me. Hashtags may not have taken off on Facebook, but they just work on Twitter. Reading these #HighRiskCovid-19 testimonials is heart wrenching. Only the nastiest trolls can take a look at these posts and not get choked up. This coronavirus…
Fact: Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. To make it easier to remember, the Boomers time frame basically started with the post-war “boom” (which had nothing to do with the Manhattan Project) and ended with the launch of Beatlemania (I made that last part up). So, yes, I’m a Boomer. We ate very differently back then. We nearly always dined at home. Slowly, as the ’60s progressed, stay-at-home moms discovered simpler recipes to make than what their mothers…
Okay, so technically I’m a farmer’s wife, but after 37 years of marriage, I know a thing or two – and nearly everything about farming applies to tips for getting through this Coronavirus pandemic. (1) Wash your stinkin’ hands! Farmers get dirty. Whether it’s dirt, sweat, animal entrails, manure, or some combination of the above, your wife doesn’t want you dragging it in the house. Wash up. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says scrub for 20 seconds. That’s exactly…
Last night on Twitter, a new trending term – Not Tom Hanks! – suddenly appeared. Sadly, one of our generation’s finest actors and his wife, Rita Wilson, had both tested positive for the Coronavirus. Coincidentally. I’d mentioned the Forrest Gump actor the other day to a friend. Tom Hanks has done such a good job of keeping his nose clean, so to speak, over the decades. He’s chosen great roles and, presumably, turned down crummy ones. And he’s genuinely a…
Does anyone still watch for “the first robin of spring”? That was a game, of sorts, growing up in western Massachusetts. Winters were so long that even a whisper of spring gave us a real lift. Sidenote: I fondly remember the annual family activity of clearing the driveway of the half-foot or so of packed snow and ice. It was genuinely fun chipping away the giant chunks during the February thaw and again in the spring. The only other chilly…
Bill’s wife, Barbara, whipped up another batch of comfort food over the weekend. She made several loaves of Cranberry Nut Bread, using Mom’s tried-and-true recipe. Bill brought a loaf with him to this week’s visit with Dad. They chuckled about a favorite Bob & Ray comedy routine that involved a “fast-breaking news” interview with The Cranberry Man: Mom and Dad loved Bob & Ray, and delighted in all the ridiculous characters and parodies they developed over the years. My parents…
With all the talk of viruses in the news lately (and a century ago), I think back to the comfort, warmth, and healing provided for many years by the cherry spread. Mom only used the cherry spread when we were ill. The cherry spread plus slowly-sipped ginger ale took care of any number of tummy aches and “bugs.” (To this day, ginger ale tastes like medicine to me.) In many hours of digging, I’ve only found one photo that includes…
Gary is never at a loss for a good story. It’s part of his charm. Thing is, as parents, you just never know who might be listening in … We got that big fluffy sheep-dog toy for John as a gift when he was seven or so. (It’s actually a puppet. And very soft.) When we asked John what he named the fluffy beast, the answer took us by surprise: His name is Dead Skin Eater. “What? Why would you…
There are 29 days in February this year. It is nice to have an extra day to read. Especially since we have gallons of new books. My parents planned last fall to move their bedroom from upstairs to downstairs, into what was then the library. In doing so, they needed a new home for their impressive book collection. Dad says Gary and I were the natural choice, since we have room at our house. I thought it was because I…