I'm Thinking…No!

OK – I’m looking out the window and snow is again falling from the sky.  We’re getting on to late April, and apparently Global Warming is not fully doing its job. Last weekend, we endured freezing rain and lots of it – I considered leasing one of those big Duck Boats that conveniently come up behind you and quack loudly in city traffic.  The floodwaters had subsided after a few days, so I thought – “I’ll bring out the deck furniture”.  That would create the illusion of some open space in the basement, but no . . .  . . . Continue reading “It’s Snowing Again!”

This blog, really a primitive sort of homage is dedicated to my brother, long a devotee of plaid flannel for most any purpose but in particular shirts.  I have come more recently to the flannel shirt, having bought one on sale at a local discount store, and now I can’t help myself.  I went into a retailer a couple of weeks ago to get a new belt and found another flannel, my fifth in as many months.  On sale for $5.50 – can you believe it?  Well, actually most of us can because it’s the end of the season in New England.  Continue reading “The Flannel Revolution”

So, what is the deal lately with all the commercials for medications? They hit the airwaves like hailstones in a storm.  They’re four page centerfolds in every magazine.  Ads for medical treatments.  The pharmaceutical industry isn’t making enough money, they now need to hit us with each new product that will repair every organ of the body?  Are people now able to storm into their doctor’s office and say, “Put me on this – I saw it on tv, and the results are amazing. If I do have suicidal thoughts or a two-week erection, my attorney will be in touch.”   Continue reading ““Just Ask Your Doctor” – Medical Commercials”

In the latest installment of “making schools safer”, this just in. A school district in rural Pennsylvania is placing five-gallon buckets of stones in every classroom so that students could throw them at potential shooters.  Betsy DeVos, reigning Secretary of Education could not have come up with a more effective and satisfying school defense plan.  Maybe she could unveil the details in her next  60 Minutes interview. Continue reading “Torn from the Headlines: The Rock Defense”

A good friend of ours is planning another trip to the UK.  She’s a confirmed Anglophile, and all things British are just better – from scones  (properly pronounced “scuhn”, so it really should have an unlaut) and clotted cream to the trappings of a proper high tea.  Indeed, everything in Britain is  better.   Continue reading “A Trip to Remember”

Plucked from the news recently is a small article commenting on the death of a gentleman from Rhode Island who spent much of his life fighting to preserve the natural landscape, particularly at the “The Breakers”, the former Vanderbilt estate mansion overlooking the ocean in Newport.  Tragically, this person was struck and killed by a falling tree.  I know, right?  Does anyone else but me see just a trace of humor in this tragic event?  It’s rather like the naturalist appearing on a late night talk show many years ago who had barely had the statement, “I feel great and expect to live a long time” out of his mouth before he suffered a major heart attack and died on the set.  Continue reading “Life’s Ironies”

Remember the days when you walked into a hotel and saw big, roomy wing back chairs, graceful sofas, pleasant areas to sit and read?  No, I don’t either.  Must have been a scene from “Downton Abbey”.  I do remember those great deep red velvet couches in the Earl’s library.  Now that’s furniture. These days, designers of hotel furniture seem to be really pushing the envelope to make everything less accessible, while human comfort and a place to relax is going the way of the coal furnace.  “Brutalist” is just a architectural style –  it’s spread to every place to park your fanny in hotels across the country. Continue reading ““We Can’t Get Up!” On Hotel Furniture”

Would you mind taking a survey about this blog?  Just a quick . . . . oh, never mind.  I’ll get back to it.  Have you noticed lately that every bit of human interaction, corporate or individual, comes with a survey?  I don’t think there’s ever been a time where consumer satisfaction and loyalty has disintegrated so much, yet we get so many opportunities to tell them about it.  Is anyone listening, reading, or paying attention to anything we send them? Continue reading “Your Feedback is Very Important to Us! (Taking Surveys)”

In a departure from my usual writing, this is a very serious issue, and it must be discussed in a serious manner.  There is no humor today, and I write this as one who has dedicated his working career to education. Because of my background and training, I’m very sensitive to the life lessons we teach our young people, and to the behaviors that teachers do and must model. I personally shudder at the thought of pulling a trigger on a young person.  After our most recent example of gun violence in a school, followed up closely by analysis (or spin, perhaps) of the problem led me to look first at some statistics that should direct our national discussion of solutions.  Here’s what I’ve found. Continue reading “Guns in the Classroom”

TV watchers learned over the years that we need to put up with commercials because, well, that’s what pays for the shows.  Ads are all over the place – billboards, naming rights, pop-ups on websites.  Why, even after you’ve paid $12 for a movie ticket and settled comfortably with your $5 soda and $9 tub of popcorn, commercials appear on the big screen.  I know, right?  When did that happen?  The movie theater was the place you didn’t have to sit though ads for local dental services and funeral homes.  Does anyone watching a movie ever, ever think, “you know, Millie, we really ought to swing by Perpetual Peace Mausoleums on the way home and book a couple of drawers.”? Continue reading “A Word From Our Sponsors”