Perfect Word List For A Sleepy Saturday

by Kevin Burton   If this starts to sound too much like the glass half empty-half full thing, please let me know.    But when someone says, “You look like you’re half asleep” doesn’t that also mean you are half awake?  And which is preferable, wakefulness or sleep?    And in the literal sense of …

Great Kitchen Marriage: Mac And Cheese

by Kevin Burton    Today is the national day for what apparently is a regional dish, macaroni and cheese.     Macaroni and Cheese is comfort food for many of us. I have seen it as a much-needed point of agreement. So I hate to insert a note of controversy here. But….    But upon just …

Dr. Pepper Is The Choice At My House

by Kevin Burton    Finally I am on the right side of the great consumer steamroller.    Usually the foods and other products I like exist in the financial fringes. Marginal sales, minimal customer appeal, and a tenuous position in the marketplace; that is usually where my go-to stuff is, always in danger of being …

Lieber & Stoller’s “Kansas City” A Classic

by Kevin Burton The musical catalog of lyricist Jerry Lieber and pianist Mike Stoller has been described as “some of the most authentic rhythm and blues that white Jewish guys ever wrote.”     Eight years before Norman Mailer published “The White Negro,” these two transplanted easterners submerged themselves in the LA black culture and began …

Long Live Caffeine, Death To Bugs

by Kevin Burton    I am late to the great caffeine-vs-decaf debate. But if we take caffeine from our coffee, let’s certainly not throw it out altogether.    Why not?  Because caffeine is a natural insecticide, according to the New York Times and others.    Yesterday I mentioned that I am considering switching to decaf …

Something New Brewing In The Coffee Pot?

by Kevin Burton    Johann Sebastian Bach wrote an ode to coffee, which means I wouldn’t have to. His would surely suffice.    By all rights though, I should.    Most of us wanted to sample coffee as young teens, exploring the world of grownups. That desire was heightened by the fact that adults tried …

Mom’s Birthday ‘Celebration’ In The Hospital

by Kevin Burton    My mother spent her 89th birthday last month in a hospital ER room.  Yeah, she really knows how to celebrate.    I had a post about her 89th birthday 89 percent finished. That was about a month ago.  Had to scrap it.    On her birthday she fell. It was her …

Why Are Highway Signs Always Green?

by Kevin Burton   They guide, they inform, they update and welcome. They ease the monotony.    At once neutral and friendly, they are ubiquitous comforting company on the road.    And they are green, always green, always the same shade of green.    I’m talking about the signs along American highways.  I love the …

Let’s Rock Coast To Coast This Summer

by Kevin Burton    We are well into summer now; what do you say we go on a road trip?  How about a rock and roll road trip?    My wife and I had two mini vacations in late May and into June.  The time on the road got my blood pumping. Could be another …

Five Lessons On How To Read The Bible

by Kevin Burton     It was refreshing and helpful to receive in the mail recently, the booklet “What Every Christian Needs To Know About Reading The Bible” from Our Daily Bread Ministries.    There is no other book like the Bible. It can certainly be confusing and intimidating to read. Author Kevin J. Vanhoozer has given …