Walk in the park more

If you've ever wanted to bite a baby's tiny foot or put a puppy in your pocket so you can squeeze it all day, you are not a monster. Thanks to scientific research, we now understand why you and I and many others have this strange compulsion to squeeze, bite, and otherwise gobble up adorable human and baby animals. It's called "cute aggression," and it's all about balancing out the big emotions in your brain. more

What does gardening have to do with your health? Gardening can improve our wellbeing in many ways.   more

Imagine an old-fashioned phone from the last century, or what is referred to as a landline. The spring-like plastic-covered wire connecting the handset to the base would get tangled, and someone would have to try to untangle and unravel the wire. more

Newspaper reporters don’t typically get much respect as writers. more

Despite what you may have heard on the playground, London Bridge is not falling down. In fact, it's quite sturdy. I know this because I rode over London Bridge in a taxi – one of many things I did last week during summer vacation. more

Horn honks. Dad yells upstairs to his daughter; her date has arrived, "He should have the common courtesy to come to the door. I don't know about this guy." more

I sit on the front porch, hearing firecrackers go off from all directions and the laughter of children from nearby streets. The dogs in the neighborhood do not like the tiny explosions, because they do not stop barking all day and into the evening. My new puppy, Sophia, certainly doesn’t know what to think about the new sounds she is hearing. more

have often written of my third great-grandfather, Capt. Peter Daly, an Irish-born soldier in the British army during the American Revolution who settled in Canada after the war. I’ve known Captain Daly’s story since childhood, as it was told me in letters from elderly aunts in Ontario, and long been proud of his loyalty to his homeland. more

I feel guilty. I’ve done a bad, bad thing. And yet I can’t say I wouldn’t do it all over again given the opportunity. more

Can you drive a stick shift? Driving a manual car, writing in cursive, or paying a bill with a check are all activities dropping off the culture.  more

In 1977, when I was about 5 years old, my father bought a new Ford dump truck for his one-man landscaping business. It was big, green, and loud. My 11-year-old brother Greg and I thought this was the greatest thing that could have ever happened to us. more