During a recent visit with a longtime friend who’s also a writer, she talked about her most recent project: a book about her mother. It started out to be a cookbook she said; her mother was a dietitian. But somewhere along the line the focus shifted from the food her mother prepared to the ...

I have long heard the expression “the dog days of summer” but never took the time to look into it. This was the year. I decided to look up the expression. It seems that the expression originates from the constellation known as “the dog”. The stars therein have influence over the ...

The classifieds in last Thursday's newspaper advertised just what I had been looking for: a dorm fridge. Wow! It never happens that someone is selling the perfect item at the perfect price. The kind voice that answered my call reassured me that it hadn't been sold, and was like new – used ...

After Pennsylvanians endured a year of Gov. Tom Wolf’s domineering COVID-19 response, they ratified landmark constitutional amendments that limit his emergency powers. But despite this resounding rebuke of Wolf’s penchant for unilateral control, the governor is just as much a “lone ...

When we visited a cousin last week she mentioned coming to the farm and enjoying chocolate pudding. Since we were dairy farmers, we always had milk on hand. I had forgotten about Evie’s Chocolate Pudding recipe. My husband would take the two-quart metal bucket to the farm and bring home ...

“The world is changed by your example, not your opinion.” That quote is from Paulo Coelho, the Brazilian writer, lyricist and religious philosopher. It leapt off the page when I read it, striking home in so many ways. Most of what I learned from my mother, I learned from watching, not ...