Halloween is past and we're well into November now. The sunlight slants, golden, by 2 p.m. and by late afternoon we're in the dark. But I'm still thinking about Halloween, and how so few kids came to our door, and how the ones that did were driven up...

Last week I was complaining to Lo about how Riley doesn't get enough exercise these days. The morning walks are shorter in distance but longer in duration, thanks to the pokey-ness of Boscoe. And, as I mentioned here before, Riley won't indulge me in...

It didn't do any good to just put on a plastic mask. All the kids at school would know who I was because of my hair. And wasn't that the point of wearing a costume to school? To fool your classmates? So the year I was in third grade, my mother got...

Finding a violin teacher was easy: I had absolutely no idea who to ask, so I went right to the top. I called up the university and asked to speak to the head of the music department. Her name was Ann, and she played first violin in the Duluth Symphony....

"More food!" says the vet. "Give that dog even more food!" His food dish is already loaded high twice a day, higher than it ever has been before, way higher than poor Riley's, who finishes his breakfast in about six seconds and then looks mournfully in...