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Birthstones And Flowers Adorn Each Month

Sometimes I am actively looking for something to write about; other times I stumble upon something that tweaks my interest. In either case, I am off and running. The column came from some of my random research. I stumbled on facts about the months of the year. I found many things I did not know so I am going to share with you. My husband bought me a beautiful necklace — a sapphire, my birthstone. While he was looking at jewelry a man asked if he happened to know the birthstone for September. He told him he did since he and his wife (me) both had September birthdays. Once he told ...

America’s Favorite Story

A Springfield, Ohio, man spotted a van — guess what color — that he thought was trying to kidnap a girl, and he ran off to chase it in the most modern of ways: livestreaming the whole thing on Facebook. The van got away, but the man posted the video, which went locally viral. Here we must commend Springfield’s WHIO TV 7 for checking to see if, indeed, there had been any substantiated reports of actual or near-kidnappings. Police lieutenant Lou Turner told reporter Katy Andersen that the cops had received not a single complaint. Let’s hear it for a reality check! The ...

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 ...