This French Hubby Got Some ‘Splainin To Do

by Kevin Burton    Ok baby bubba, let’s hear you talk your way out of this one!    Under the headline “Mislaid Mrs.,” The Sun newspaper of London ran a painfully short story about a Frenchman who drove nearly 200 miles on a vacation trip before realizing he had left his lawfully-wedded wife at a …

Fantasy Despair And The Voice Of Reason

by Kevin Burton    So despondent was I last week, that I jumped off a ledge. How fortunate for me, it was only a virtual ledge.    And to be more specific, it was a fantasy ledge.    I drafted eight fantasy football teams this year –  two more than ever before – and only …

How Deep Is Your Love?, Good Question

by Kevin Burton   My sister and I had one last shared musical moment, in the days before her death Aug. 25 of last year.    We had thousands of them over half a century together. What I wouldn’t give to have a few more of them now.    The final one came last August, …

Hard Lessons In Death And Unforgiveness

by Kevin Burton     This bit of Burton family lore started small, sprung up unexpected.    We had a maid named Mrs. Long. This was before the basement at my father’s house in Yellow Springs, Ohio  was finished, when you could still practice hockey on roller skates and shoot a plastic puck into a 4-by-6 …

Catsongs: Cat’s In The Cradle, Harry Chapin

by Kevin Burton    (Catsongs is a series on Page 7 to honor the memory of my late sister Pat by looking at our two shared passions, cats and music.)    For this series, I am featuring songs with cats in the title, or perhaps the lyrics. Unfortunately “Cat’s in the Cradle” is the obvious choice …

Penny For Your Thoughts, Feline Daughters

by Kevin Burton    They have ways of expressing themselves, but my cats don’t speak any English or Spanish, so I don’t always know what they are thinking.    Do I really want to know what they are thinking?  Well, we can’t know, which is probably for the best.    But I did stumble upon …

Quibbles And Bits: Cats, Beatles, Fantasy

by Kevin Burton    Our younger cat Lakin is a great leaper, has a good set of lungs and is eager to communicate.    And she’s wild about exercise. I should be so wild about exercise.    You share your living space with two cats, you find out a few things.    Like on a …

Turns Out My Wife Was Right All Along

by Kevin Burton    In yesterday’s food-safety post we learned that poultry that is green or has secretions should be thrown away immediately.    This is the sort of cutting-edge consumer lightning bolt that makes me proud and happy that I started a blog some years ago.    And today we’re still on the job …

Good News For The Very Old And Very Young

by Kevin Burton    Today’s smiles from the Good News Network take us from Japan to Iowa, from senior years to the cradle, from life to give to life to live.    First, a story by Andy Corbley about older Japanese women, making a joyful contribution to society as a whole and to real people …

Things Get Better With Age, If You Let Them

By Hannah Singleton National Geographic      While aging is often portrayed as a slow decline, scientists say that view overlooks the bigger picture.    “Everyone talks about aging as this decline,” said Michelle Feng, chief clinical officer at Executive Mental Health and a licensed psychologist who specializes in geriatric psychology and medicine. “But aging …