It’s too hot! It’s too cold! You certainly can’t make everyone happy all the time. Some of us hearty New Englanders enjoy complaining, and we know that misery loves company. I’m just glad those people all live somewhere else. I recently saw that a friend had posted a picture on Facebook of himself grilling some food and commented, “enjoy summer now, as it’s almost over.” As I write this in mid-August, we’ve had a few of those 50° mornings and maybe Fall is creeping in

I know you’ve heard of the Statue of Liberty, but have you heard of the Statue of Responsibility? If you haven’t that’s ok, because it doesn’t exist yet, although it was a project started to create a 300’ tower on the west coast. Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of “Man’s Search for Meaning” once said that the Statue of Liberty on the east coast should be paired with a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast. He understood the fact that liberty alone could b

I still love summer. As a child, summertime was by far my favorite time of year, mostly because it was the only season when you didn’t have to go to school, and you didn’t have to bundle up with five layers of clothing to fight against the bitter cold of winter. I loved baseball and my birthday is in the summer. It was, and is, the best time of the year. However, as years have passed, I’ve come to appreciate all of the seasons of the year, as each season brings something

“This…is… Jeopardy!” That famous phrase has been spoken nearly every weeknight for over 40 years. If you’re familiar with this game show you know that it is unique in that the answer is given first, and the correct response must be in the form of a question. Wouldn’t it be nice in life if someone gave us the answers first! For the past few years I’ve been going to the gym more often. I made a conscious decision that I should simply plan to go every day and make it a hab

I loved baseball when I was a kid. From the time I could walk I was always trying to catch up with my older brother to go outside and play with him and my dad. I grew up a Montreal Expos fan, because when you live in northern Maine in the 1980’s you only get 4 television stations, and 2 of those are Canadian. The Expos were on TV almost every night in the summer, and watching those games is how I learned to play the game. Mike Trout is a great player for the LA Angels,

Sometimes I wonder how much progress we are truly making in the world. It can be disheartening to watch the news or read the comments on social media, and it doesn’t feel like we’ve made much progress. But many of the things we take for granted now haven’t been happening for that long. Taking a hot shower only became common in the 1960’s. Indoor plumbing has existed for less than 100 years. We can pull up to a drive-thru and have hot food or coffee within a few minutes.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…and thus begins the famous Charles Dickens novel “A Tale of Two Cities”. I remember having to read this book in high school, but since that’s been a few years I don’t really remember the story, but that opening line sure stuck. But this opening did make me think about the time we live in. Are we now living in the “best of times” or the “worst of times”, or is it possible that it is both? Perhaps most every generatio

The age-old question - is the glass half-full or half-empty? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? I’m sure many of us know those people who are eternal optimists. They are always happy, sometimes bubbly, and always seeing the good in other people. What is wrong with those people? How are they so agreeable all the time? And then there are the pessimists among us, and you know who you are. Often easy to spot and hard to avoid…you see them around the corner and try to diver

Happy New Year! Now that January is here and those presents are opened, I wonder how many will last? Often those shiny new toys opened on Christmas morning end up in a closet or collecting dust on a shelf in a short time. The newness wears off and then all we have is a pile of junk and a credit card bill. Are there any good gifts that will actually last through the coming weeks, months, or years? As I’ve gotten older it seems to me that experiences matter more than thi

Time flies when you’re having fun, and it travels at warp speed the older you get! Wow, here we are, the end of another year in sight. We are close to completing the first quarter of the 21 st century. It seems like only yesterday we were worried that all of the computers and ATM’s in the world were going to shut down when Y2K rolled around…but here we are, we survived. As we age some of us don’t like birthdays. I like my birthday, it’s in the summer and I’ve always s

November can be a tough month with the days getting shorter and the weather getting colder. I’ve always wondered if “Thanksgiving” was added to the calendar because too many people were complaining about winter coming and someone finally said, “hey, be thankful, it isn’t that bad!” Let’s eat some turkey and stuffing and be fat and happy. I’m often impressed when I visit our communities and see our residents and our staff in action. We have some amazing people. Most of

Have you ever been caught doing something you should not have been doing before? I’m sure we all have. Maybe you took a cookie from the...

Do you remember as a child how slowly the month of December would pass? If you celebrated Christmas and were lucky enough to have a...

I took a chemistry class when I was in college. It was rough, I didn’t love it, and I’m not sure why I did it. I suppose I was on a...

July is a good month, summer is here! Well, this year it’s been cold and rainy so far, so hopefully by the time you read this summer...

Have you ever received a package in the mail with the label, “Fragile, please handle with care”? When you do, you know that you need to...

I’m not sure if you like golf, but history was made in April when Rory McIlroy completed golf’s grand slam by winning The Masters golf...

Someday I hope to see more of this beautiful country. Several years ago, my family and I visited the southwestern United States. We saw...

March is a tough time of the year. The holidays seem ages ago, February snow has been rampant, illnesses are spreading as we stay inside...

“Honey, did you hear what I just said, were you listening?” Uh oh, is it obvious that I wasn’t listening…again…ummm, think quickly or...