The "happiest place on Earth" got a little pricier this week. ...more

August 4, 2009

It's amazing what a difference a couple days in 'The Best Place on Earth' - Vancouver's self-proclaimed pre-Olympic motto - can do. ...more

February 28, 2009

This past week I returned from our 7th American Legion yearly cruise we put together to of course enjoy life and each other, but mainly to raise funds for our veteran programs and children and youth programs. It has personally been a rewarding experience for my husband, David, and me, but this year's cruise brought along with it yet another dynamic force that made me once more sit up and take notice of our wonderful country and all its attributes. The force came this time from the eye of our youngest son, Matthew, who along with his lovely new bride Theresa, had come along for this year's cruise, as did many other of our travelers bring family. After a day at sea with us developing a great rapport with the other travelers and enjoying all the beauty around us, we went into Grand Cayman Island followed by Jamaica. That evening my son came to our room saying, "Mom, you know this is the first time I have ever been out of the United States in my 40 years and I felt in my heart that there is no place on earth like the United States of America. The beauty God gave our world was all around us as it is everywhere, but seeing these ports and the structure of their economy, education and living, etc. I can honestly say that even in these hard times, Mom, there is nowhere like the good old U.S.A. Our poorest of people live better than these people. ...more

February 10, 2009

Goodbye, obnoxious Red Sox fans. Hello, obnoxious Phillies fans. Twin brats of different dysfunctional mothers, the fanatics of Boston and Philadelphia come to the same place of extreme obnoxiousity from opposite roads. ...more

October 21, 2008

Goodbye, obnoxious Red Sox fans. Hello, obnoxious Phillies fans. Twin brats of different dysfunctional mothers, the fanatics of Boston and Philadelphia come to the same place of extreme obnoxiousity from opposite roads. ...more

October 20, 2008

All too often, in this life, we get what we don't deserve. I don't deserve: - To see and hear, walk and talk, think and laugh, and thus, enjoy the world around me. But I get to anyway. ...more

November 18, 2007

Jim McNeil is one of those deeply satisfied folks the rest of us would love to emulate. Long retired, he engages life with optimism and grace, grateful for his blessings and glad to be living in Brandon. ...more

October 8, 2007

'Over there, I see something!' someone yelled. On a lakeshore a few hundred yards away, across a thin sheet of ice, a yellowish blob lay in contrast to the new white snow. Glenn Hopfner, our driver, steered closer, and everyone reached for their binoculars and cameras. ...more

September 2, 2007