A long time ago, while attending college in preparation to become a teacher, I learned something that has come to mean a great deal to me. It’s about kids… but more about character and self and how the heart meets the mind and spirit. And it’s about determination. Here it is: As teachers and parents and mentors and coaches, our [...]

A perfect evening… Walking with Jane and her two beautiful dogs through my little New England town, nodding to passersby as they dash into shops open late for the holiday season and waving to friends through restaurant and cafe windows… then turning the corner onto my street to be greeted by my home. Home, with its twinkling lights that melt [...]

I spent a few days with Audrey while her husband was out of town. All I can say is… thank God I have thick skin. Or, at least, “pretty lines.” I’m thinking that I must get William (just turned 4) and Alexander (just turned 3) together for a little tutorial in what NOT to say to a woman. Yep. And [...]

My dear, wonderful, fabulously funny friend, Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry, posed an interesting query yesterday… if you had 4 hours of pretty much everything else in your world completely done (you know, like laundry), what would you do with this time? (OK. I know this is as preposterous as, what would you do with your $300 ga-zillion [...]

I had the most magnificent weekend. I know it seems redundant to write about Bloggers-Who-Meet-Face-to-Face for the first time… you know, the slow-motion run along a busy city street while Chariots of Fire (or even more scary, Bolero) wafts though the clean, fresh air as two (or 11) bloggers henceforth total strangers but for their blords (I just made up [...]

Barry and I spontaneously took off this past Tuesday and headed to Cape Cod, or, as we New Englanders say, “the Cape.” The day was glorious… warm, breezy, beautiful sun in the big old blue sky. Our plan was to head all the way to the tip of the Cape, to Provincetown, but a 13-mile construction warning detoured us to [...]

There’s nothing quite like sharing a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Pop-up on a warm summer afternoon at Grandma & Pop-up’s home… Except maybe when Grandma gives you a nice cold “bah-bah” that Mommy and Daddy think you’ve totally outgrown! OK, Benjamin.  It’s our secret!

August 14, 1976. My name changed. My life changed. The greatest dream that any woman could ever dream came true when you said “I do” 32 years ago today. You gave me Keith and Adam. You gave me Audrey and Jane. These are beyond gifts. These are miracles. We began a journey that would give us 9 more miracles, our [...]

Florence Dorothy Couto. My wonderful mother-in-law. Flo passed away this afternoon, and I already cannot imagine life without this marvel of a woman. This bigger-than-life persona. This dynamo of energy. If ever anyone has left this world with big shoes to fill, it is Flo. My mind is a wandering stream of memories, laughter, great food, parties, celebrations… and love, [...]

The good old national pastime. Baseball. You know, where you root, root, root for the home team? And eat, eat, eat ’til you’re as big as… well, Frank “The Big Hurt” Thomas. This past Sunday, Jane, her husband Steve, my husband Barry and I went to a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston. The day was spectacular. A warm [...]