Nothing gives me greater joy than seeing a brand, spanking-new grocery store opening up in the area. Here in our town, we’ve got two rather old and not so great stores to choose from: one offers great prices but not too much in the way of innovation while the other is a little newer, a […]
Not long ago, my mother told my children a story that I had heard many times growing up. It concerned the time that she—19 at the time—and my grandmother decided to take the bus from New York City to Miami, Florida purely out a sense of whimsy. My grandfather had just died and I guess […]
Today, out of respect to the loser and his constituents, I will assiduously avoid the topic of the election and to stick to something we can all agree on (I hope): Halloween. We wave goodbye to another Halloween, although if you are like me, you’ve still got pounds and pounds of crappy drugstore chocolate in […]
Control Freak My husband went to Cape Cod last week with his class of seventh graders for a week of whale watching, nature hikes, and science exploration. Me? I was home with the kids, who ate Elio’s pizza every night while I had a bowl of cereal and a glass of chardonnay. There’s a certain […]
As my children get older and begin to understand that we are indeed a very fortunate family in so many ways, not the least of which is financially, we talk a lot about giving back to the community, both small and large. Once every six weeks, as a family, we get together with another family […]
Ted Hindenlang used to be a police officer. He now prefers to break the law. He is working on his first novel, a mystery. I have to admit, I have a love-hate relationship with fictional detectives. For every Andy Sipowicz, who was great, there are twenty-five or so who make me root for the bad […]
I’m sure, like me, you come from a family of “save it for a special occasion” people. You know what I mean: use grandma’s tablecloth? No—save it for a special occasion. Break out the Waterford on a Friday night while eating pizza? Nope—that’s special occasion crystal. Use the china that you registered for on your […]
Finding Myself Againby Susan McBride, author of THE DEBS As I write this, I’m on deadline for Book Three in my YA series for Random House, not even a month after THE DEBS debuted, and I’m gearing up for the Southern Booksellers convention in Mobile, AL, where I’m doing a panel and signing. Oh, and […]
I am constantly amazed at the immaturity of adults and the nature of campaigns, two things that I’m finding are not mutually exclusive. Having watched now one presidential candidate debate and one vice-presidential candidate debate in which all four participants engaged in a “no, you did,” “no, you did!” forensic exercise of futility, I’m starting […]
I’m going to talk about collapse, but not the one that you think. Because if I started talking about that one, I may never stop, and that would not be good. Why do we root for sports teams who break our hearts? Are we masochists? (Or is it sadists? I never get that one straight.) […]