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It’s Time To Start Getting Outdoors

Now that spring is right around the corner and the seed and flower catalogs have started to arrive in the mail, it’s time to think about finally getting outdoors. I am sure I am not the only one that loves spring, the season of rebirth. When I walk outside in spring, I know my favorite season has arrived. This is when the flowers start growing and the birds start singing. The air smells fresh, buds appear on trees and the grass starts to grow after their long winter slumber. I think that in winter a good number of people are in some kind of hibernation, I know I am. I go to ...

Struggling To Keep Up

I looked around my house today in an utter panic. “Where did all this come from?” I thought, looking at toys, blankets and fruit snacks that were scattered all across the living room floor. (There may have been a few Doritos in the mix as well.) It seemed to all dawn on me at once: “Your house is a mess!” the piles and general chaos announced. This weekend, we’d taken the opportunity to visit the local children’s museum and go out on the town a bit … and it definitely showed. “How on earth does everyone keep up?” I often find myself wondering. In my head, ...

The Cars Get Wider But The Doors Do Not

If there was a theme for these columns, it was based on my idea of promoting good resolutions which, as we all know, are what we should be promising to try . . . again . . . in the new year. Quoting my favorite, Dave Barry: “Don’t feel bad! Many people have trouble sticking to their resolutions, and there is a scientific explanation for this. In 1987, a team of psychologists conducted a study in which they monitored the New Year’s resolutions of 275 people. After one week, the psychologists found that 92 percent of the people were keeping their resolutions; after two weeks, we ...

The Second Mountain Of Alzheimer’s

It’s like a long, inspiring novel, the story of my best friend Michele who developed early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 47. Her children were in high school at the time, two girls who were poised to go to college, have families and jobs one day, and then starter homes on little lanes, and all the good blessings we expect life to offer. Their mother’s illness progressed slowly, being of middle age and of good health at the time, but still, life became a zig-zag path of questions and uncertainties for everyone who loves Michele. A central question was how could we help ...

Bloomberg The Nanny

Good for Mike Bloomberg. During his first debate, he slammed Bernie Sanders by saying: “We’re not going to throw out capitalism. We tried that. Other countries tried that. It was called communism, and it just didn’t work!” Exactly right. It’s safe to say Bloomberg is not a communist. I wonder if that means there’s still room for him in the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, Bloomberg is no principled, limited-government capitalist, either. Like his fellow New York billionaire Donald Trump, he’s used to getting his own way at his own company. Unfortunately, he assumes ...

The Good Life: Joe Scarnati Provided A Memorable Two Decades

Journalists can have up-and-down relationships with politicians. We need each other. At times, our jobs conflict, and we tend to dislike each other. At other times, our goals synchronize and we like each other — for a while. I like to think that I have a friendly relationship with now-retiring state Sen. Joe Scarnati of Brockway, Pa. We kid each other regularly. We have had social dinners along with our wives on occasion, and business dinners in Harrisburg, Pa. a few times. So, are we buddies? I’ll revisit that question in about two years, after Joe has become a retired ...