I had impulsively bought a wooden Tic-Tac-Toe game set for my mother to use. The classic game was familiar to her, didn’t take long to play and she usually won. Just like my children, she would obsess about playing, pointing at which piece for me to move. I remember playing endless ...

Smencils were the gateway drug. Smencils were (and still are) scented No. 2 graphite pencils packaged in recyclable plastic freshness tubes. Root beer, bubble gum, tutti-frutti, grape — every kid’s favorite was covered. An affordable habit, even as a school fundraiser, they were only a ...

On all major highways, lines are painted on the roadway to indicate whether passing another vehicle is allowed or not. Most drivers know that yellow lines separate vehicles traveling in opposite directions and white lines separate vehicles traveling in the same direction. On two-lane roads, ...

It should have remained green. So why has it changed color, this red pepper? — Matsua Basho (1644-1694), from Haiku, on poetry written for popularity Colorful, glossy sweet bell peppers in a rainbow of colors resemble Christmas tree ornaments: red, yellow, orange, purple, brown, black and ...

One of the saddest questions I get from parents is how to how to help a child cope with the death of a pet. It is important to understand that how a child deals with a pet’s death depends largely on their age and personality. Until children are age 5 or 6, their view of the word is very ...

My Sundays are as ritualized as a medieval monk’s. Of course, my rituals are radically different from theirs. I don’t pray, meditate or painstakingly copy manuscripts. Nor do I sing Gregorian chants, tend to a grape arbor or trim my tonsure. And best of all, I don’t subsist on black ...