My Kind of Birthday Gift
By Jim Dodson My neighbor was outrigged in a full arctic parka, down on her knees wrapping what appeared to be miniature quilts around a number of rose bushes in her yard. The temperature was somewhere in the lower 20s, by far the coldest morning of a winter that had seen unseasonably warm temperatures and nary a hint of snow thus far.
Lost and Found
I may be the only person I know who really digs the month of January. Where most folks see a month of cruel bone-chilling winds and Christmas bills arriving in a blizzard, I see a time of rest and reflection, the gift of a moment to withdraw and take stock and mentally regroup, as my equally hard-working wife likes to say.
A Wonderful Life
I’d really love to have this awesome Orvis Jacket. But honestly, don’t spend all this money on me. Seriously. I really mean it. Okay, but only if you insist... By Jim Dodson
Sticky Toffee Thanksgiving
I suppose it’s a glimpse of the future for our own Modern Family. Thanksgiving this year will be a rather quiet affair. With all four of our kids committed to be with the other halves of their extended families, we’re facing our second Thanksgiving without our youngest members.
Eat, Drink and Be Scary
Last Halloween a lone trick-or-treater thumped on our door, a cute little girl dressed like a Bob the Builder, complete with a work belt, electric drill and construction hardhat.
Summer Travel
Summer travel with kids can be a real adventure — often as painful as it is comic.
It Rained Hard
It rained hard that morning, I remember, a tropical downpour, then the sun came out and everything felt like a steam bath. My mother’s peony garden was still in bloom the day I graduated from high school forty years ago this June; she cut one and left it by my cereal bowl, a perfect pale yellow, still wet with dew, along with a note and an elegant cream box.
The Right Way to Live
During my lonely freshman year at college way down in the eastern part of this state, April became my favorite month for a couple reasons, both modern and ancient
What the Palm Knows
In back of a crowded wine bar the other night, amid the din of a jolly Friday evening crowd, I discovered a friend who has an unexpected gift known since human beings crawled out of the primal ooze. He reads palms.
Summer's End
My late Southern grandmother used to say it was a sin against God and nature to wish away time and rail against the weather. But please permit me to get this off my chest: