Clik here to view.
Tough Questions on the Way to School
On the way to school the other day, my ten-year-old, seatbelt clicked and settled into the back of the car beside his overstuffed backpack, asked me a serious question. “Mom,” he said. “If gummy bears...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Puritans Inhaling Swamp Gas
Sometime in late February of 1639, a man by the name of James Everell, along with two of his Puritan buddies, rowed his boat up the Muddy River of Massachusetts and spotted a weird light in the sky....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Running is Still Stupid: A Tale of Perseverance as Told by an Ugly Guy
In 1915, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, the 18th Baron of Dunsany and a prolific writer known to his readers simply as Lord Dunsany, produced an updated version of another prolific storyteller’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Naked with Lava-tude
In 1948, former Royal Navy WWII pilot, accountant, and avid nudist Edward Craven Walker sat in a pub in Dorset County, England and noticed an inventive homemade device bubbling away on a stovetop in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dancing Like She’s Never Danced Before
It’s prom season here in the great state of Missouri. Every Saturday night from now until early May, dinner out at any local chain restaurant in the area (McDonald’s included) will come with a red...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When the Band Begins to Play
Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a grand tradition that has thankfully faded since its heyday prior to World War I. For one day only, I conducted a school band. There are a few things...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Every Jiggly Step I Can Get
Early last year I wrote about a fitness challenge I had joined, pledging to walk 2,017 miles in the year 2017. In case you’re curious and don’t like to do math, that comes out to around five and a half...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Yo’ Mama Likes Books So Much…
It’s been about six years since researchers Michael Streck and Nathan Wasserman published in the reputable journal Iraq that they had made a stunning and important breakthrough. The two men had been...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Get Off My Lawn!
On May 7, 1947 real estate lawyer Abraham Levitt, along with his two sons William and Alfred, announced a plan to build a community of middle class homes on Long Island. Responding to a growing urgency...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dirty Little Secrets of the Common Cold
The end of the school year is nearly upon us. The teachers and students are counting the days and hours remaining, looking forward to the final bell. I’m counting, too, but I’m a little more panicked...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Father of Wine Snobbery and Pinterest Magic
On May 1, 1633, thirty-two-year-old beauty Venetia Stanley Digby was found dead in bed in her London home. A popular lady at court, her surprising demise set the city abuzz with rumors, many of them...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I’m No Mozart
We’re in full on summer mode here. My kids have been out of school for almost two weeks and in that time we’ve gone swimming several times, spent a day at Six Flags, hosted visiting relatives, gotten...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Commas and Em Dashes
Good Thursday morning to you all! This post isn’t really a post. It’s really just an explanation of why I am not posting this week…Because I’m editing! This is not my novel. This is a picture from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Black Bears on the Move: Suburban Shock and Awww
On November 14, 1902 US president, outdoor enthusiast, and big game hunter Theodore Roosevelt experienced a profound moment of awww when he refused to shoot a young black bear. The president was the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Laying off the Rice and Fish: A Summer of Spontaneous Combustion
On a bright spring morning in 1731 a maid knocked, to no avail, on the bedroom door of the Italian countess Cornelia Zangari, grandmother to the future Pope Pius VI. Receiving no answer, the maid...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Attack of the Hons
In 1924 a teacher named Jaime Garí i Poch discovered a curious drawing on a wall in the Cuevas de Araña, or Spider Caves, near Valencia, Spain. The drawing, which is as much as 15,000 years old,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From Amish Ladies to Sexy Vampires: One Mustn’t Judge
In 1860 the world was introduced to George Eliot’s novel The Mill on the Floss, the story of siblings Tom and Maggie Tulliver. The book includes some complicated themes of frustrated love and the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fun with Elvis in the Toilet Paper Capital of the World
Between the hours of 1 and 7 am on August 8, 1977, about one week before his death, superstar Elvis Presley rode his favorite roller coaster back to back to back to back. I don’t know about you, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Knight of the Medieval Umbrella
It was at the tail end of August in 1839, after a year of planning and rehearsing, that thirteen valiant knights took to a muddy field near Eglinton Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland, and pretended to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Study in Buttery Bovines
When she was a little girl Caroline Shawk dreamt of being an artist. She painted. She drew. She sculpted childish figures with clay from the creek. By age twelve she had won her first art award for her...
View Article