Dollear clowns around Costa Rica!

Bill Dollear lives in Del Webb but travels extensively. This is from his last trip when he was in Costa Rica.

Pizza, pizza

Jim grew up on the northwest side of Chicago. It was an Italian/Polish neighborhood and his family was the token Germans they allowed in. As a result of this ethnic rich neighborhood, he grew up with the best food in the world. He didn’t have to look far to find a great pizza joint. Then he met me, a suburban girl, and he had to share with me Chicago’s culinary delights. One of my favorite places was Leona’s on Irving Park Road.

We were surprised when we found out that there was a Leona’s pizzeria in McHenry. We decided to fire up the “Way Back Machine” and go back in time for a good Chicago pizza.

Americans vs. Canadians

Quick PSA: I am not claiming that one country is better or more worthy than another is terms of creative output. We Americans have been putting together fine work for even the last few decades. “Mad Men,” “Six Feet Under,” “American Horror Story” (at least the first few seasons. These are just a smattering of some that I have witnessed. Surely there are angry readers yelling “Breaking Bad” into their newspapers now. But sometimes we get it wrong. A show isn’t given enough time or axed due to some outside pressure. And now it is time to jump on Netflix with their cancellation of “Boots.”

Now You Know: January 29, 2026

In our December 18 column, Now you Know partially responded to a query sent in by Annette of Neighborhood 16 about the Huntley Fire Protection District. We addressed their structure, staffing, professionalism, and training that supports their excellent ability to respond to the community’s 911 calls and need for help.

Here is Part II of NYK’s investigation.

Ask an Angel: January 29, 2026

I’m writing as an adult daughter who’s feeling torn between love, frustration, and worry. My mom has mild dementia and struggles with incontinence. My dad is still her primary caregiver, and he’s fiercely protective of her, which I admire. However, he refuses to let her wear Depends. He insists they’re unnecessary and embarrassing, and that she can “manage just fine.” The truth is, she can’t anymore.

When the flavor and the scenery are a package deal

I just returned from a trip to New Orleans, where my husband and I took in the local scenery, fabulous music, and of course…food. We ate our way through the city, gorging ourselves on all the fresh flavors of catfish, oysters, shrimp, jambalaya, red beans & rice, and gumbo.

“Oh, you must go to Cafe du Monde and have beignets!” said one person after another, almost word for word, which had me suspecting they were part of a mass marketing campaign aimed solely at me.

Are the seas a-flush with spicy doom?

It’s getting hard to decide which global disaster is most likely to lay us low, you know?

Just when scientists had gotten me warmed up to the idea that global warming and Gulf oil leaks are bad for us, now they tell me that the latest doom we have to worry about is—well, they don’t have a name for it yet, but I suppose it would be called “global snickerdoodling”.

Ask an Angel: January 15, 2026

I’m writing because winter showed up early this year, and I’ll be honest, it caught me off guard. The snow and ice came sooner than usual, and just like that, my daily outdoor walks were off the table. Those walks were more than exercise for me; they were my fresh air, my routine, my mood booster. Losing them so suddenly has been harder than I expected.

Dead men do tell tales

New Year, New You. At least that is the slogan every person who greets the incoming year says, a hope for some prosperous future we can all attain. Hello all, hope your winter break was good, that the holidays were a moment of stress-free reprieve. I, for one, feel that now is the real escape. My day job being in retail, the month of December contains a different power over me than it once was. Although I don’t prescribe to the notion that Christmas/Holiday music is annoying. Unless it is “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.”

But enough about that, here we are in the beginning of January. Possibly you are reflecting on what you didn’t do in 2025. Maybe a crisis came up that made you reevaluate your priorities, bring more focus to what is lacking. A crisis of faith, one might say. However, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic. That is just the dilemma at the emotional core of Rian Johnson’s latest in his Knives Out series.

From one extreme to another

The holidays are finally over. Thank goodness the family gatherings are done for another year. All that is left is memories of the spirited dinner table discussions and thoughts of all the wonderful gifts. In all fairness, we should talk, since Rosie has an overflowing toy box already, we wrapped up her dog treats and told her Santa brought them. The best gift we received was a solid glass paperweight with a real crab encased inside. Needless to say, we decided to join the pajama clad, over caffeinated, exhausted people during the after Christmas rush and return this magnificent gift from whence it came and possibly get something else in exchange. To keep our strength up for this endeavor, we Googled restaurants in the Schaumburg area and found something interesting. This family-owned restaurant is JoJo’s Diner.

Teaching kids is a dream job — for better and for worse

I’ve been retired from teaching for more than 20 years, yet I often dream that I am still (or maybe yet again will be) a teacher. But although I loved teaching, my teacher dreams always fall in the “bad dream” category.

Oh, not because the kids are rebellious in the dream. No, in all my “bad” teaching dreams, it’s never the kids’ fault.

It’s always me.

The Emily Post of snow removal

“Well, we are witnessing the downfall of society,” said my Gentleman Friend, as he kicked off his boots next to the front door and brushed snow out of his hair.

Sometimes I’m not sure if he’s being funny or overly dramatic. So I wait.

Not the musical ear-worms, like that song you hear once in the morning that still haunts you as you go to bed at night. No, I discussed those linguistic ear-worms that you hear other people say over and over again every time they open their mouths.

Everything old is new again

The universe is conspiring to tell me something, to impart some wise lesson to remind me what this season is supposed to be about.

I felt a twinge of it with the first snowfall of the season. I woke up to a beautiful wonderland blanketed with snow and something bubbled up inside me. Instead of checking the temperature and worrying about levels of antifreeze in my car, I poured a second cup of coffee, sat in my comfy chair, and swiveled to face my picture window. Everything was still and sparkling and bright, while I sat in jammies and slippers thinking how lucky we were to have a cozy house.