In honor of the Super Bowl — I have been a football fan all my life, especially the pros. Credit/blame can go to Jim Brown, the Cleveland Browns’ great running back; I grew up watching him run and have been hooked ever since. I still think he’s the greatest running back ever to play the
My brother, Dr. Gregory E. Welbaum, a professor at Virginia Tech (the smart one), has announced publication of his book, Vegetable Production and Practices. Although written as a college text and reference book, it will appeal to serious educated home gardeners who really want to know what they are doing. Most gardening books in stores
While surfing Facebook last night, I ran across a link about banned books on The Literacy Site. I was initially surprised that No. 1 was a dictionary. As a writer, I have little respect for people who ban books. But in some cases I do think there has to be a common-sense decision on age appropriateness,
I was standing out in front of my house the other night, enjoying the evening air. There was a nice sunset, and the birds were out happily chirping. But something more sinister was out, too. As I looked up the street, I saw the largest dog I have ever seen. He was about the size
This is a true story from a friend in the advertising business. He had designed a calendar for a client as a beginning-of-the-year promotion. Each month was introduced with a wise saying. One month’s saying was “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” The following month’s was “Well
Something about the menu didn’t seem quite right. We were at one of our favorite restaurants for our weekly Saturday dining-out. The menu had been redone, and one of the new offerings caught my eye. It was an appetizer: Chicken Fingers with dipping sauce $3.99 Maybe it was the fact that I was unusually alert
I once worked with a young lady who was in her first job. She told me the story of how she had gotten hired at 18, and all the living space she could afford was an efficiency apartment. At that time, she was very close to her little brother, who was about ten years younger.