Vintage vinyl holds a place in my heart
It had to happen, and now it has. I was attending a social event full of 20-something adults. The talk turned to popular music back in the day. I said I used to have a large library of records — 33s, 45s and 78s. Blank looks all around. Finally, one youngster broke the ice. “Uh, Bob,” she said, “what do those numbers mean?” Thus did this group join the throngs who have ... READ MORE
A taste of childhood that sparks glee
It’s not a good look when a man of a certain age (yes, me) freezes an entire dinner party by jumping up and down with glee. But I confess — and I would do it again. Such was the pleasure of tasting Apple Brown Betty once more. For me, ABB was the quintessential 1950s dessert. They must have served it every other day in the school cafeteria when I was in third grade. Then and ... READ MORE
It’s not so easy to play Cupid anymore
My wife came home from lunch with a former colleague. She’s usually bubbly after such events. On this day, she was a bit moody. “He got divorced,” she announced. “And he wants me to fix him up with a female friend of mine. Any female friend.” She agreed to try, without enthusiasm, without any guarantees offered or expected. But as she tossed her raincoat onto a chair and ... READ MORE
WTH? Couple buys ‘What the Heck’ home
They married in their 20s and immediately bought a small house in the near-in suburbs. Until last month, they lived there still — nearly 50 years later. Their house has two bedrooms, one and a half baths, a carport large enough to accommodate one car and a patch of grass in front “about as big as a deck of cards,” the wife said. “We have lived very modestly,” she... READ MORE
Tooling down memory lane in old cars
Taking a walk past the neighborhood elementary school is usually a benign affair. But one recent morning, as I sauntered by the faculty parking lot, I was brought up short. Here was a Toyota. Then another. Followed by a Hyundai. Followed by another. Then a gaggle of Hondas. Then a cluster of Kias. I decided to count. In all, 42 cars were parked in the lot. Not a single one was an... READ MORE
Why Yogi Berra was right about funerals
A woman we knew only slightly died one recent afternoon. The funeral was scheduled for five days later. The date and time landed hard on a previously scheduled, important meeting. Should we bail on the meeting? Would anyone miss us if we didn’t attend the funeral? Could we skip the funeral since she wasn’t a blood relative or a close friend? Or was this funeral — any... READ MORE
How private can a neighbor choose to be?
She was a nice lady who lived alone and always kept to herself. She mowed her lawn regularly, shoveled snow when necessary, never played loud music, never caused any trouble. Her neighbors knew almost nothing about her. Family? Career? Birthplace? Education? She never spoke of any of that — or spoke much at all. She exchanged hellos with her neighbors when they passed... READ MORE
Why I miss our dowdy, dumpy old cars
Cars are nothing more than machines, right? You fuel them, maintain them and occasionally wash them, and that’s usually that. They are not babies. They are not pets. They don’t really have personalities. They occupy the same category as clothes dryers and dishwashers. They spin, they whir and they do the job they’re supposed to do, without emotion or elan. But in our family,... READ MORE
When a planner retires from all planning
It’s always great to run into an old friend you haven’t seen in an age and a half. So it went recently for me and my old pal Marcia. The Big M (as I and her other close pals always called her) spent her career as a tax preparer. She did returns for the high and mighty, but also for hundreds of others. Because of her accuracy, her promptness and her sunny disposition, she was the... READ MORE
Dreaming of GPS voices from yesteryear
After years of struggle, I’ve made some tentative peace with newfangled gimmickry. I can deal with e-mail, voice mail, texting and Google. But there’s one 21st century presence that leaves me pining for days of yore: That woman who gives me directions via GPS. You know her. If you tee up an address on your smartphone, she’s right there, snippy and snappy, ordering you to turn... READ MORE
