Ahhh, the family reunion. An annual rite of passage for most families, you’ll often find the summer months as the “high season” for this type of extended family gathering. Reunions are done in a number of ways, whether it be meeting up at a relative’s house for a picnic/barbeque or gathering everyone together for a big trip somewhere – say Disney World or getting a cabin together in the Great Smoky Mountains. There tend to be two camps when it…
This week marks our country’s 247th birthday (just three more years until the Semiquincentennial – start your shopping now!), and what’s more American than watching a fireworks show to celebrate our Independence Day? No matter where you see a colorful display light up the night sky, it’s always an exciting time of year. That being said, advances in drone technology are now being utilized by the entertainment industry, most notably in the form of drone shows. Similar to a fireworks…
The news reports and magazine articles are already starting about how this summer’s air travel will see record crowds, higher ticket prices, and staffing shortages (both from the airlines and the airports themselves). All of this means that air travelers can expect more delays, more cancellations, and more frustration as they try to reach their vacation destinations. Hooray. There’s nothing I enjoy more than getting in a TSA line behind someone who acts like they’ve never been inside a lighted…
With the return of warmer weather, I spent this past week prepping my front porch for another season of use. I swept off the winter dust and dirt, washed a window or two, and even cleaned off the porch posts with some soapy water to rid the area of its winter grime and wear. Then it was off to the shed to retrieve the furniture and cushions, getting them placed just so, followed by the return of my house plants…
Did you ever feel you have a “million dollar” idea? Not that you’d literally make a million dollars, but an idea you feel just “can’t miss”? My wife and I get these all the time. For example, years ago, we thought that if a pet food company came out with cans of gravy – just gravy – they’d make a fortune. We even named our idea – “Auntie Leigh’s Happy Lappin’ Cat Gravy”. Sure fire winner right there, and apparently…
Another school year has ended at my house. My daughters are both home from college – one finishing up her junior year and one halfway through her sophomore year (already). As I was loading up the car from yet another dorm move-out, it occurred to me that this was probably the last summer we’d all spend together under one roof. Once graduated, my oldest will most likely look for her own place elsewhere, hoping to utilize her English degree (with…
Believe it or not, this coming weekend is the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The “unofficial” start of summer is here (and if the preview of temperatures over the past week or so is any indication, it’s going to be a hot one). Here are some of the things that bring the summer season to life: Cookouts and swim parties. The scent of suntan lotion in a hot car. Evenings spent gently rocking on a porch swing and watching the fireflies…
Summer is almost upon us, and if you’re out and about at a concert, festival, picnic, or looking for food options to take with you out into the wild, wild, wilderness, a great and trending option is a charcuterie board. Excuse me, a what? Charcuterie, a French tradition (of course), is the “art” of preparing and displaying cured meats and cheeses. In other words, its a fancy meat and cheese tray. Those crazy French. But it’s so much more. A…
As I travel to and fro on the back roads and byways of my community – you know what I DON’T see a lot of these days? Swimming pools. Above ground, in ground – whatever. I just don’t see a lot of homes with swimming pools anymore – especially in new construction. Growing up, it seemed that friends who had a pool were to be envied. Their house had it all. As a kid, if only I could have stepped…
If you’ve ventured outside recently in the four-state area, then you’ve probably been greeted by the loud and rhythmic buzzing of cicadas. It’s the return of “Brood X” – the largest group of cicadas that make an appearance every seventeen years in the Central-Atlantic states along the Eastern seaboard. For the next few weeks, millions of these insects will emerge after their long slumber – and for a month or so they will molt, eat, mate, and then drop dead,…