I didn’t grow up with Mario, Luigi or any of the kingdoms they’ve been leaping through since the 1980s. I’m from the Radio Shack era — the age of soldering kits, TRS-80s, and blinking green cursors — not the Nintendo generation that spent childhood chasing stars and stomping ...
What happens when your much-anticipated holiday turns out to be nothing like a Norman Rockwell painting? I can tell you, because my Easter certainly wasn’t picture-perfect. Life had already been moving at a dizzying pace, filled with events and responsibilities far beyond my usual routine. I entered Easter weekend already feeling a step behind. With my children scattered across Pennsylvania, each raising young families of their own, getting everyone together is no small feat. This year, we planned to celebrate on Saturday instead of Sunday, a practical adjustment that still held all ...
by David Thompson Signs of spring were evident well before March 20 when spring officially started. One sign that wasn’t visible was the unmistakable smell of a striped skunk whose mating season was underway. It may have sprayed an attacker with potent musk in self-defense while searching for a mate at night. Rarely seen because of being nocturnal, skunks begin to mate in February. Then and more often in March, their odor spreads across my neighbor’s open field bordered by large oak trees and conifers. Among the trees at the top of a creek’s steep bank are numerous burrows dug ...
The most popular fishing day of the year happens April 4 which is opening day of trout season for all anglers statewide. If the weather cooperates and waters are in decent shape for fishing, Saturday will be a good day to catch some of the 3.2 million trout being stocked this year. Your job is deciding where to fish. You could return to your favorite place or try a new one. Some anglers end up traveling from one creek to another and also stopping at a lake. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s trout stocking schedule is available on the agency’s website (fishandboat.com). ...
For the second time in my life, I have to look for a new restaurant. After I turned 44 in 1994, I decided I wanted to find a restaurant that I could go to on a regular basis. It took a while, but I finally landed at Miller's Restaurant outside of Mill Creek. It ...
Easter is quickly approaching, and I find myself once again in preparation mode. All eight Easter baskets, one for each of my grandchildren, are lined up neatly across the dining room table, like a row of cheerful little bunnies and chicks waiting to be filled. These are the very same baskets they received on their first Easter, a small but meaningful way to create continuity, memory, and tradition. While the contents may change from year to year, the baskets remain the same, white bunnies for the girls and yellow chicks for the boys. As I set them in place, I began to wonder: Why do ...
