Clik here to view.
Forget the Bunny: A Case for the Easter Fox
With Easter Sunday nearly upon us, it’s probably time we talk about rabbits. I have a complicated relationship with these admittedly adorable creatures. My first favorite stuffed animal was a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Cherry Popsicle and Other Things Mom Really Wants for Mother’s Day
If you live in the US (and you don’t live in a cave), I’m sure you know by now that this Sunday (May 14) is Mother’s Day. It’s hard to escape the ads for jewelry, and chocolate-covered strawberries,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s Kind of a Big Deal
First of all, I have mixed feelings about writing this post. Secondly, today, October 12th, is the 525th anniversary of the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Bahamas, representing the most...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Monks Make Wily Guards and Santa Claus is Dead
As we enter into the busy Christmas season with the official start of Advent this past Sunday, I suppose it’s fitting to pause for a moment to observe the day when Santa Claus died. Yesterday (December...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What the Cool Kids are up to this Christmas Season
There’s a strange thing happening in my house this holiday season. The delightfully tacky, lighted, multi-colored star that has topped my Christmas tree for more than a decade has been blinking. It...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Making a List and Checking it Twice
So we’re down to it, the last few days before Christmas. I’m not going to lie. I’m a little stressed, though in a good way. I want the holiday to produce warm, fuzzy memories for my children and the...
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.
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.
Head Foot Awareness Days
Sometime toward the end of 1873, Newfoundlander Moses Harvey found the bargain of a lifetime. For just ten dollars the amateur naturalist and writer purchased the carcass of a giant squid. Harvey...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More Excuses and Turkey
Yes, I do have more than one turkey. Happy Thanksgiving Day to all my friends here in the United States! And happy Thursday to all my friends around the world who will not be spending the day basting a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Hope I Didn’t Ruin It
In 1906, Englishman George Albert Smith invented the Kinemacolor contraption for producing films in color. Smith was building on the ideas of Edward Turner who had done something similar in 1902, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Interview with a Krampus
I don’t know about you, but I definitely have a healthy dose of the Christmas spirit this year. The decorations are up, the lights are lit, and rebellious radio stations are pumping out classic holiday...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Huggin’ It Out for Millennia
It’s been about twelve years since the discovery of a Neolithic tomb near Mantua, Italy set archaeologists’ hearts aflutter. In this land associated with Shakespeare’s famous pair of tragically...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stupid Holidays, but Milkshakes
In 1936, a man by the name of Earl Prince invented a machine that could make five milkshakes simultaneously. Made possible by the newfangled freon-cooled refrigerator systems, his “Multimixer”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I, Said the Cow
This has been a year of big transitions for my two sons. My oldest started his freshman year in high school and will soon be learning to drive; my youngest headed for the first time to middle school....
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Babylonian Resolution
Four thousand years ago, give or take, the Babylonian people celebrated a twelve-day festival called Akitu. I don’t know if it involved giving their true loves a bunch of gold rings, some milking...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Let’s Talk Turkey
In 1535, Spanish colonialist and historian Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés published his General and Natural History of the Indies in which he described for the old world some of the elements of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cookie Problem
I have a cookie problem. Normally, this first weekend of December that’s due to descend upon us would be the time when my family would open up our home for a Christmas party with our wonderful...
View ArticleClik here to view.
You Can Keep the Oysters
Christmas traditions were a big deal in my childhood home, and we had a lot of them. From the homemade cards my mom designed (and still does) every year, to my dad’s special fudge recipe, to carols...
View ArticleClik here to view.
And Once Again, NYC Drops the Ball
In 1907, the city of New York banned the use of fireworks in Times Square. This was particularly disappointing to New York Times owner Adolph Ochs, who for three years had been responsible for one of...
View Article