Yesterday, I made a batch of my Grandmother’s molasses cookies, and boy, they sure look beautiful, if I do say so myself. Just like I remember. I have Grammy’s recipe written in her shaky hand on white (now yellow) lined paper. The thing even has Grammy’s molasses stains on it. My mother had it laminated for me years ago, and I’ve used it so much it’s starting to separate along the edges. The thing I like most about this recipe is that in the margin at the top of the page, over “Old Fashioned Drop Molasses Cookies,” my Grandmother has written, “My best.” Underlined, with a period, not an exclamation mark. It was a truth …

People were kind of spacey and tired last week, what with the time change. Me, too. We’re all just kind of…off. Whether we’re springing forward or falling back, it’s a royal pain in the patootie! It’s amazing what screwing around with our sleep schedules can do, right? I mean, it’s just one hour. It shouldn’t make that much difference. But get this: on the Monday after we switch to DST, heart attacks go up by 24%. Strokes increase, too. Car accidents climb 17%. I’m reading that folks are more likely to get injured at work due to “attention lapses and micro-sleeps.” Charlie’s sitting at the kitchen table one day last week, working on his second …

Merry Month of March

Wow! Last week, the weather was wacky to the max! Mid-week we got a “dusting” of snow that ended up being about three inches. It was that wet kind of snow that sticks to all the trees and shrubs and makes the world look magical. I took a walk the morning after our little storm. The real feel temps were hovering around 23 degrees, but the sun was shining and the world looked so bright and clear, with a sky the most intense shade of blue. A couple hours later, the trees were bare again. The ice had melted off the cars, and there was this steady drip, drip, drip from the roof as the …

Scamp, the Birthday Boy

On February 28,  Scamp turned fourteen! Honestly, last November, when our vet told us he had a tumor on his spleen, I wondered if he’d make it past Christmas. But, darn, if he’s still hanging in there! I give him a half a pill a day. It’s an appetite stimulant, anti-naussea type thing. Without that, I don’t think he’d be eating much at all. But right now, he’s chowing down pretty good. We blast Scamp with love and give him all the treats he wants, of course. He’s earned it. Most importantly, he doesn’t seem to be in any pain. That would be a deal breaker. Scamp doesn’t run to the door when we come …