Rounding Third: Gratitude arrives in a huge tow truck

May 30, 2024

“New York Thruway Authority. What is your emergency?” When I left for Massachusetts two weeks ago, those words weren’t on my radar. I definitely didn’t plan on calling 911 from the highway. A few years back, Dear Richard and I decided to split up the 525-mile trek to Boston. We had found a fabulous Italian restaurant in Albany – with 18 veal dishes on its menu. Now we drive two-thirds of the way, eat at D’Raymond’s, sleep in, and arrive the next day refreshed, not exhausted. This trip I was driving alone, with the same hankering for dinner at D’Raymond’s. My ...

View from Hickory Heights: Legend of Dogwood

May 24, 2024

This year my two dogwood trees have been particularly beautiful with white blossoms lasting more than two weeks. Last year the flowers were spotty so I thought maybe my tree was dying, but this proved that wrong. Years ago, my husband and I went up on the back forty and found these two dogwood trees. He carefully dug around them and brought them down to our yard to plant into two large holes that he had ready. At the time they were small. It took until the next year before we had a few blossoms. From that time on the trees continued to grow blossoming profusely. Dick told me that ...

Humor, human interest from Erma — an iconic sister

May 23, 2024

Erma Bombeck was the funniest Ohio housewife – ever. Erma grew up in a modest suburb of Dayton, wrote for her school newspaper, and worked at the Dayton Herald as a copygirl. Before she received her English degree from the University of Dayton, one of the Marianist Brothers at the University said to her, “You can write!” – the statement that changed her life. Her columns were a humorous take on the life of a suburban housewife, a hilarious chronicle of middle-class life in America after World War II. She was syndicated in more than 900 newspapers and published 15 books. Her ...

New gardeners can think big, but start small

May 18, 2024

With the beginning of May and with temperatures in the 60s it is time to think about the garden. If you are new to gardening, there are some important things to keep in mind. The first thing to consider is how much time you will be able to give the garden. What summer activities do you ...

View from Hickory Heights: A rite of passage

May 17, 2024

Sitting in a gymnasium with a lot of other proud parents, spouses, and friends, I had time to think about what graduation means. It was plain to see how invested these people were as soon as the graduates made their entrance. I was impressed with the ceremony. Faculty, staff, and others were present. The president made her remarks. First, she acknowledged what was uppermost in many of our minds. Many of the students were first time graduates – by that I mean that this was their first graduation ceremony. They were the class most affected by COVID-19. COVID 19 took away their high ...

Rounding Third: Ready, set, smile … say che-e-e-ese

May 16, 2024

In 1930, Kodak gave away its Brownie box cameras to 500,000 12-year-olds across the country. My mother was one of those lucky recipients, and it began one of her life’s important journeys. She fell in love with photography. I was about 12 when my mother told me this barely believable story. “Seriously? They GAVE the cameras away?” I asked. “To a half-million kids?” “Yes. And I was thrilled,” she said. She continued with a little history lesson. “Remember that 1930 was the year after the stock market crashed. Toys and presents were not in family budgets that were ...