My lunch was served on a melamine Ronald McDonald plate and I still thought, “Bon Appetit Magazine got it right.” Their award for Best Restaurant in America for 2017 went to an unassuming hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop that beat out fancier, older places with starched white tablecloths, fine china and hefty price tags. Before being handed…
I can’t thank you all enough for the beautiful condolences you’ve sent regarding the death of my father. It has been a terribly difficult time and with the addition of sending my youngest son to college, it seemed like the world was unraveling. Months ago, when things seemed perfectly normal, Bob and I planned a…
It was difficult to understand him, but through our tried and true method of hand signals, pantomime, clicking sounds and eye blinks, I finally understood that my northern born husband was trying to tell me his New Jersey Great-Grandmother Donatoni made something she called gravy, but it was actually spaghetti sauce. Now, doesn’t that beat…
Can’t you just leave it here? It’s almost September, which in the South is still full-blown-hot-steamy summertime, but I’m already counting the days until I can toss off my sweaters and warm up because there’s an abuse of air-conditioning going on and I’ve spent yet another summer shivering. This “cold war” has followed the current…
In preparation for taking my youngest son to college in a couple of weeks, I’ve wisely anticipated the difficult areas that may cause great heartache and have taken steps to avoid gut-wrenching bouts of sobbing I hear so many other mothers experience. My eldsest son just graduated from college and although it was difficult to…
I sat and watched again on TV last spring as a teen turned violent and shot and killed his peers. His teachers said he was “disconnected” from his community. I felt glad that couldn’t happen in our small (but growing) tight-knit community because everyone feels involved here, right? I mean, Southern Living loves us, so…
Every parent should home school — but hold on, before you yank Junior out of the 4th grade at Possum Valley Elementary, let me explain. After home schooling one of my sons for a few years and sending the other all the way through public schools, as well as teaching in a public system, I’ve come…
After years of fighting birds, bugs, heat and leaving town on vacation just when the figs were getting ripe — I hit the jackpot this year. Now, I’m so sick of picking figs, I finally gave up and told the birds to help themselves. “Do you make fig preserves?” everyone wants to know. The answer…
My dad’s been sick, and for the first time, on Father’s Day, I had to feed him. A spoonful of soup, a bite of chicken, then a sip or two of water. It was the worst Father’s Day I can ever remember. Of course, you can imagine I was heartbroken, but when two different friends…
Grace that is greater than all our sins There needs to be a word to describe the specific feeling you get when you are simultaneously furious with your child, yet still want to hug them till they melt in your arms. I thought of this when my husband told me, “All the boys in…