I get a bang out of advertisements for “Special Occasions.” Restaurants, wedding venues, florists, greeting cards – each market their goods to help us celebrate. We all have birthdays, anniversaries, reunions, and other special days in our lives tugging at our heartstrings. But at my age? ...

Although May 1 just passed, I want to introduce you to some of the significance of the day. First of all, May Day dates to around 2 A.D. It had its origins in the festivals of Europe. I recall the Campus School in Fredonia celebrating May Day. One year I attended the ceremony because my ...

I like to write about the annual robins who nest on my back porch. I enjoy watching their month-long odyssey from the home building to the final fledgling fly-off. Last year’s model must have liked the neighborhood, because Rosie Robin (as I had named her) is back. And she has brought ...

Yesterday when I looked out my back door, I could see that my rhubarb plants were up and growing. Today, unfortunately they are under a layer of snow. That is Spring! Several years ago, an employee who worked for my son wanted to get rid of some rhubarb plants. She dug them up and brought ...

It’s just past 10:00 a.m. and Old Tom is standing in my backyard. He has been a shoveling, bending, tugging figure out there for almost 20 years. Like me, Tom moves slower today than when he first agreed to help me. Today he is wearing a floppy hat, jacket, Bermudas and work boots, his ...

Last Sunday we sang the hymn “Abide with Me”. That took me back to the church I went to in my youth. At Grace Lutheran Church in Dunkirk, we ended all Wednesday night Lenten services with that hymn. I knew the first verse by heart. The lights were dimmed so we had to memorize it. After ...