Ask an Angel: December 15, 2022

I am having a hip replacement in a few weeks. While I’m looking forward to being able to walk around with less pain, I’m not looking forward to the necessary therapy after surgery. My orthopedic surgeon recommends that I go to a short-term rehabilitation facility after being discharged from the hospital. I know I’ll benefit from the extensive therapy. However, I’m dreading the many unknowns of what to expect.

Scenes from the Big House

It was about 26 degrees the day I went with my daughter, son, and best friend to watch a football game at the University of Michigan, where my son is a freshman. This was my first football game watching the Wolverines at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Nicknamed “The Big House,” the stadium is the largest stadium in the United States; the third largest in the world. It boasts over 107,000 seats. I only know this because my friend, the ticket holder, was kindly sharing her knowledge of sports trivia with me.

When a Supreme Court decision hits home

Like everyone else, I had strong feelings about the Supreme Court’s controversial decision regarding abortion, even though there was no way it would ever affect my body directly, for reasons too obvious to mention. But the Supremes are currently mulling over a decision that could strike to the very heart of my identity.

I refer, of course, to the suit filed by the Jack Daniel’s Whiskey company against an Arizona company named VIP Products, which makes doggy chew toys.

Passion plays

Hello all, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. And now we are in the thick of the holiday season. However unfortunately, a number of entries I planned to view aren’t out yet. And, due to a slight cold, any chance of going to the theaters were thwarted. But if you are in the same boat as myself, where do you turn to but the streaming services. And now more than ever, they are providing vast oceans of content for your viewing pleasure. Well let’s grab out the remote and surf through, shall we?

The nest was tucked six or seven feet up into the crook of a maple tree, and Dandy, filled with puppy curiosity, enthusiasm, and energy, would leap into the air to go nose-to-nest. Then she would sprint around the yard and do it again.

Regrets, I’ve had a few

Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire, recently bought Twitter for $44 billion. Since the beginning of the year, Musk began purchasing shares of the publicly-owned social network, Monopoly-style, before announcing he would buy the company outright and privatize it. By May, the deal was put on hold. By summer, Musk hinted that he might abandon the deal to buy Twitter altogether. But in October, Musk finished the deal: $44 billion for the purchase of the platform.

Folks are leaving Twitter in droves, and many who remain are mercilessly trolling Musk with fake accounts impersonating him.

Fun Adventure in Germany

What’s that saying, “you can never go home again”? A Del Webb traveler wanted to challenge that thought and just returned from a “reunion” tour of Germany.

A close sight reading

“Time is the thing. Time is the essential piece of interpretation. You cannot start without me. I start the clock,” our protagonist says in the opening moments of Tár. But that is the thing, she feels she can control that beyond the music. The first ten minutes of Todd Field’s film is the key to understanding the whole thing. For whom can get through the beginning moments, those people are in for a wild ride.

Just my type

It was as though the chocolate brown typewriter had a spotlight on it. There was no chance of passing by without admiring its beauty. I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

Let’s do ‘Plants’ for $400

For this column, I thought it might be fun to have a gardening themed trivia game.

Comedy with bite

Hope you all had a nice Halloween. Now that summer is firmly in the rearview mirror, the crop of awards-worthy films are ready to be reaped. After a rather dismal summer I am glad to get ready for something fresh this season. Comedy has been hard to come by, even one as intelligent as the one I just saw. Satires are even rarer; need only to read my review of Don’t Look Up. America doesn’t know how to make fun of itself as much anymore. But thanks to our European brethren we don’t have to.

Maple, no hash

Anytime a new restaurant opens up in our area, it causes quite a stir, especially when it’s not the usual fast food. We have been receiving a lot of questions and comments concerning a new breakfast/lunch venue that recently opened in Pingree Grove. To see what all the fuss was about, we headed out one morning to get the lowdown.

Ask an Angel: November 3, 2022

I’m approaching my 60s and finding my joints to be stiffer. Arthritis runs in my family history and I’m noticing that I’m experiencing more joint pain, especially in my knees and back.

For the love of Autumn

Ahhh, she’s here. Can you feel it?

Although there is an official day on the calendar that tells us autumn is here, it isn’t really here until she glides effortlessly through the door, fashionably late for the party.

Things that go bump in the night

As I am writing this under the glow of the hunter’s moon, ominous vibes spread through. Just in time for All Hollow’s Eve, a batch of new scary fare is coming our way.

Over on Disney+, the best Marvel output in a while has just dropped. Werewolf by Night comes to us from an unlikely source. Film composer Michael Ciacchino takes the helm with panache.

Let’s make a deal

October is such a wonderful month. It is a month that has jack-o-lanterns, witches, and appropriately, Nancy’s birthday. Since she signs up online with every restaurant possible, she is inevitably inundated with offers for birthday “freebies.” With her purse bulging with gift cards, and her phone’s email inbox full, she was armed to celebrate her birthday at the Crimson Crustacean, aka, Red Lobster Seafood Restaurant in West Dundee.

Woman laundering, mind wandering

I’d rather be doing something else than folding all this laundry. How many towels have I folded in my lifetime? How many fitted sheets have I wrestled with before half-folding, half rolling it into a croissant-shaped white flag of surrender?

The preferred path to becoming anonymous

When the last ding-dong of doom tolls for you, it would be nice to go out famous, wouldn’t it? I mean, who wants to be anonymous when all is said and done? Who wants to lie forever under a slab with a date on the left and a date on the right, and nothing more than a dash in between? It would be nice if people remembered your name long after you were gone, explaining in famous detail what your dash stood for to anybody too young to know firsthand.

Tree of life: remembering loved ones through nature

Recently the world stopped, or at least slowed down, to mourn the loss of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Her death, and indeed her life, was a tribute to those around the globe whom she served. It is estimated that 11.4 million people in the United States alone watched her funeral on television. It was the single most watched event in television history.

Have a Disney Plus day

Earlier this month, The Walt Disney Company had their annual shareholders meeting D23. This was three days of events and reveals. Among the announcements, we got a look at the new Willow television series. There were also some previews of upcoming Marvel projects such as Blade, Secret Wars, and the new Captain America movie. One big drop that made quite a stir was a teaser for the live-action The Little Mermaid. Controversy aside, I hope it fairs better than some. That’s all well and good, but what about now?

An ice cream ‘break’

The golden years are so much fun. Every day is an adventure, you never know what aches and pains the day will bring. Nancy woke up one morning with a sore ankle, which grew worse as time went on. This prompted her to call our orthopedic doctor. Getting a doctor’s appointment is no easy task since you never know which branch office within a 50-mile radius they will be in.

Ask an Angel: October 6, 2022

As much as I hate to admit it, my parents are growing older. We live just a short drive apart, yet they still spend a lot of time by themselves. I worry about their safety at home. My mom enjoys gardening, and my dad likes to putz around in the garage, sorting through memorabilia he’s collected over the years. I work full-time, and although I work from home, I can’t just hop over to check in on them during the day.

Pomp(adour) and Circumstance

It was just 30 minutes before we had to go to the high school for the graduation ceremony, and it suddenly got quiet in the house. I couldn’t imagine where everyone had gone. Just a few minutes before, my son was frantically asking, “Where’s my tie?” “Has anyone seen my tassel?”

Now? I heard nothing.

Happiest sad man, or saddest happy man

“You’re either the happiest sad man in the world,” my buddy Bill told me recently with sorrow in his voice, “or the saddest happy man.”

The occasion was the sudden death by stroke of the love of my life, Carol Felvey, a death that came completely out of the blue on Labor Day weekend this year.

Miller’s Magic Carpet Ride

Hope you had a good Labor Day weekend; I sure had. And thanks to Tom for allowing me a week off to recharge myself. Honestly HBO Max dropped Elvis that weekend and it was very good, one of the most exhilarating films I saw all summer. This season saw the biggest dearth, a desert wasteland in terms of good content. Which makes this sad to see a release in August with as much complete originality get treated like dirt. It is not; more like an oasis. Love it or hate it, Three Thousand Years of Longing is clearly the work of a singular filmmaker creating what they want.

What’s in a name

When planning a day out with friends, they invariably ask us “where’s a good place to go for lunch.” We are trained professionals, after all. This time, however, one of our friends, Barb, remembered a sandwich that she loved from days gone by. She then suggested a restaurant that once seemed to be everywhere, but suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.

Living up to — or down to — expectations

As a schoolteacher for more than 35 years, I found it important to keep a key principle in mind at all times, and the principle is this:

How much — or how little — a student achieves is directly proportional to a teacher’s trust in their ability to master difficult lessons. Students will usually live up to — or down to — your expectations of them.

Buoyed by your trust in them, students will usually reach a level of achievement far higher than even they imagined they could reach. But if they sense that you have low expectations of them, they will almost always fall to those low levels, and often even lower.

Something’s afoot

My right foot looks like an overstuffed sausage in my black flats. Yesterday, a faint, kiwi-green bruise was on the top of my foot, casting a shadow on the bulging portion of my foot, which in turn spilled over the edges of the shoe, reminiscent of a muffin top. Today, the bruise has migrated closer to my toes—concealed by my shoe, at least — but angry and purple.

Ugh. I was trying to help out my Gentleman Friend, who is a band teacher at our local high school. It was the first home football game, which meant the first performance for the marching band, too. Everyone looked sharp: brass buttons shining on their jackets, plumed hats dancing impatiently in the breeze. They were lined up on the front stairs of the school, and all I had to do was snap the group photo to be used in the yearbook.

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