So many books, so little time — but soon I’ll be rid of most of them as I prepare to move to a smaller apartment. I’m unsure when that will happen, but I do know that now, while so many of us are staying in, is the perfect time to work on downsizing. M… Continue reading
On a table crowded with microphones and wires, Sam Thiessen Devine places an unpainted wooden truck, outfitted with chunky wheels. At first glance, the simple toy appears to be a well-loved memento from Devine’s childhood. But this is an object that ho… Continue reading
Doris pulls me ahead; I trot to keep up. Her tail is sailing, as if atop a mast. I take this as a sign that my 1-1/2 year-old Terrier/Jack Russell mix is happy and brave. Well, slightly braver than she was three months ago when I adopted her from a she… Continue reading
My weekly lunch date gently slides into the passenger seat of my sedan. His thin gray hair is carefully combed, his square jaw and cleft chin are freshly shaven. Before I pull away from the two-story house, my childhood home, I lean over to give my 93-… Continue reading
Shivering under a blanket, knowing the only bathroom nearby was a Porta Potty, armed with extra tissues and plenty of hand sanitizer, I cheered when my daughter’s team made a goal and groaned when they didn’t. I prayed to the soccer gods that my child … Continue reading
(This article is based on the new book, Boomer Brands: Iconic Brands that Shaped Our Childhood, by Barry Silverstein, published by GuideWords Publishing.) If you’re a boomer, do you have fond memories of the Saturday morning TV shows that entertained y… Continue reading
I went to lunch with my parents last week. I sat in the back seat, where I was 12 all over again, while my mother drove home from the restaurant and my dad “corrected her mistakes.” He really is the worst backseat driver. Until Dad’s macular degenerat… Continue reading
Back in the days before Halloween became an industry — it’s now an occasion to plant “gravestones” in the front yard or a giant inflatable vampire in the driveway, all to frighten trick-or-treaters — my father was achieving the same goal with a simple … Continue reading
In my childhood neighborhood, “moving on up” meant a 1970 move from our New York City apartment on 155th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues to a three-room apartment in a building on Riverside Drive West, near 159th Street in Washington Heig… Continue reading