Ever wonder how many years, or centuries, parents bearing medicine have been saying, “Here, take this, it’s good for you,” to kids? I don’t know the answer, but I bet my mother told me that [...]
Baseball, Names, and A Pig
Sometimes you just have to follow the signs, and five of them ganged up to point me here. To start with, for whatever reason, I’ve heard Johnny Cash’s recording of “A Boy Named Sue” a [...]
What Is a Bicycle?
“Why,” you may wonder, “would anyone ask what a bicycle is?” Well, it’s because this morning for no special reason I got to thinking that a bicycle may not be all that it used to [...]
Looking Back and Thinking Ahead Potpourri
I realize that lots of people like year-end list-making, but I’m more than a little ambivalent about it. Seems like there’s way too much of it—ten best movies, twenty best books, fifteen top TV shows, [...]
You Did What to the Horse?
It’s amazing how little it sometimes takes to trigger a series of way-back memories. As I was passing through the picturesque town of Canandiagua, NY, on a winter day recently, the snow-covered early-19th-century and Victorian-era [...]
Not Your Grandfather’s Wish Book
I don’t know about you, but I surrender. Well, make that a partial surrender. I’ve long griped about Christmas decorations going on sale in stores weeks before Thanksgiving, and I’m certainly not ready for the [...]