If you truly know me, you will not ask me to eat out on my birthday. Unless the interior space and/or exterior architecture is unique. Unless the menu is healthy fare. Unless the meal is served in an unusual setting. Oh, just put me outside. Hiking a trail somewhere. Happiness guaranteed. Or at a friend's…

It's how I was raised. During the spring, summer, and autumn seasons, we planted, tended, gathered, and put away food that would carry us through the cold winter months. I do believe I was meant to have lived in the 1800s… a Little House on the Prairie/Laura Ingalls Wilder existence, as I thrive on living…

The farmer's market… a colorful space. Vibrant hues of wheatgrass and sunflower greens. The deep, richness of multi-colored carrots and heirloom cherry tomatoes. The warmth of autumn brown in the homemade chicken stock and raw cacao beans. The colorful expression of market attendees. Oh, yes, there's gotta be some dreads. Down a nearby side-street, an…

Imagining a little gnome waiting to greet me on the other side of the door, I reach for the handle on the oversized entrance door. Then I stop. The magical window display takes my breath away. Anthropologie is an adventure before even entering the shop. Upon entering the store, there is a flow. A serene,…

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1-3, 1863 in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was a turning point in the American Civil War (April 12, 1861-April 9, 1865). The Union Army led by Maj. Gen. George Meade defeated Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army, but not without cost. Both armies experienced heavy losses.…

Dick proudly boasts of his connection to Thomas Edison. He says his grandmother, Olive Clifton Dullum is a second or third cousin to Thomas Edison's second wife, Mina (pronounced my-na) Miller Edison. So, to visit Edison's West Orange, New Jersey laboratory, factory, and home on the day he celebrated his 66th birthday, it was a…

Adjacent to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan is expansive acreage where Henry Ford preserved history in another way. Having the foresight to identify those who represent the heartbeat of America… people who would eventually find a place on the pages of our history books, he set about to preserve their memory by relocating…

The Henry Ford, which includes the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, Benson Ford Research Center, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, and Imax Theater is worth driving, say… 810 miles. From Brainerd, Minnesota to Dearborn, Michigan, that's what Dick and I did. Think of the experience as a pop-up book. Our nation's history unfolding and coming to…

After leaving King Arthur Flour in Norwich Vermont, Dick and I set our GPS for Woodstock, New York. To clear up confusion, the town of Woodstock was not the site of the August 1969 music festival of the same name. It was actually held on a 600-acre dairy farm outside of Bethel, New York which…

When the headquarters for King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont was designed, large viewing windows were included so that visitors could watch bakers at work. My youngest grandson and I were especially inquisitive about stacks of coil-wound wooden baskets. We stood at the bakery's observation window long enough to learn their application. To make a…