Dialing for dinosaurs
A rare thing happened over Labor Day weekend. After a 9-hour drive, all five people in my immediate family went to the same movie at the same time. Once your kids grow up and move…
Columns
Not-so-itsy-bitsy spider
One spider? Normal. Two spiders? Concerning. Spider in the toilet? Now we’ve got a problem. In recent months, we’ve occasionally spotted a spider here and a spider there, but I didn’t get worried until the…
You know what this room needs?
We just wanted a new color. Just paint. No big deal, right? But first we had to decide on a color — something lighter than the terrible taupe we’d come to dread over the past…
A letter to the lady in charge
Dear Mother Nature, Normally, I wouldn’t question a single thing you do. I’m a big fan of your work. Starry skies? Awe-inspiring. Tropical waterfalls? Lovely. Trees of every shape and size? I’m a huge fan.…
His and hers vacations
For the past few years, when Tom’s work takes him somewhere I’d like to see, I get my own plane ticket and tag along so we can be weekend tourists. The writing profession might never…
When back-to-school requires packing tape
At our house, back-to-school looks like Moving Day. We’ve evolved from cute lunchboxes to U-Haul trailers. By my count, we’ve moved a kid to a dorm or apartment 12 times over the past seven years,…
The overwhelm
About a year ago, I wrote down this phrase on an idea list I keep on my phone: “How to get out from under the overwhelm.” Then those words sat there gathering digital dust. I…
Bacon tomato bliss
We got the first batch of them last weekend, and they were perfect. Red, round and luscious. Lined up in a shallow, plastic crate, they’d been placed on a sheet of old newspaper, and my…
Dog days
Friends, it’s too hot to work. Too hot to even think about work. And since we’re sweating through the “dog days” of summer, I’m turning over my keyboard this week to an actual dog with…
Clanker or collaborator?
One time when I was a kid, I was invited to play and have dinner at a friend’s house from church. She was the preacher’s daughter, so I knew the whole family. I’d already said…