It's not because I'm single and unattached that Valentine's Day fills me with a kind of internal cringing normally reserved for the sound of nails dragging down a chalkboard. It's not sour grapes or cynicism gone amuck. It's simply that Valentine's Day is, and nearly always has been, a crass, "What the heck am I going to get him or her" competition, that devalues spontaneity, simplicity, romance and - I'm pulling out the big guns here - most of all, love. ...more

February 14, 2009

The spontaneity of buying a first motorcycle and riding off toward a distant horizon is gone, now that state law requires new riders to take safety classes that are hard to come by. ...more

September 5, 2008

Melanie Achenbach, a New Port Richey-area amateur photographer recently completed a study of mothers-to-be ...more

July 9, 2008

County Commissioner Rose Rocco said she is in no hurry to choose an administrator. If the three applicants don't pass muster with her, she plans to continue searching. The job, she said, is too important to rush someone through. ...more

January 22, 2008

Not bound by administrator committee's choices. ...more

January 21, 2008

Reflecting on the old and making plans for the new. That's how we spent the last week of 2007. Not a bad thing — perhaps. We actually took the entire week off. After celebrating Christmas with a number of our children, we parked ourselves on Fort Myers Beach for the week. Alternating with hours of sheer relaxation just gazing at a clear blue sky, we read two books, shared our thoughts and dreams with each other, and listed our goals for the New Year. Although neither one of us is big on making New Year's resolutions, what we did last week felt good. In fact, we're seriously considering taking off the last week of every year. ...more

January 4, 2008

These days, life moves so fast, and we are all so busy, it has become necessary to plan farther and farther in advance to make anything happen. At least in part, this is because we have somehow developed the need to make every occasion a major production. Compulsion to "wow" those who attend has robbed us of most of the spontaneity, and, in my opinion, much of the joy of special occasions. ...more

November 25, 2007