Between Christmas and New Year’s our family traditionally gathers at our cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP) along the shores of Lake Superior. Several other families have the same tradition, and therefore New Year’s has been celebrated with the same group of family friends over many decades and generations. This little community is extraordinarily tight.…

A couple of weeks ago I spent a very entertaining Sunday evening at a church social that included an after dinner comedienne discussing the foibles of empty nesting. At the end of the presentation, the comedienne announced a trivia contest with prizes. She quickly cautioned us not to get excited and competitive since the prizes…

My childhood was decorated with a slew of family expressions.  My father liked to say, “Well he really stuck his ass in a tub of butter,” which referred to a man who had an amazing stroke of luck.  It typically referred to a guy who had married a wealthy woman, but when my father said…

For about 2 years my mother and I worked together on a book of children’s poetry called Ned’s Journal, which described the “small and big life adventures of Ned,” a 10 year old boy.  We were pleased to secure a publisher, Tatra Press, whose only previous publication was a guide to men’s clothing.  While the…