My Basement Office in Winter

I have discovered one drawback to having my office in the basement of our new home. Make that, “on the lower level,” in the vernacular of modern real estate. Heaven forbid that a house be saddled with such a dreary component as a basement. Particularly when it is a walkout […]

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Memories of Vicks

One scent that brings my childhood to mind is that of Vicks VapoRub. When I was of toddler and preschool age, my mother would bring out the Vicks every time my brother or I had a cold. I used to try to hide my symptoms so she wouldn’t treat me […]

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Memories of Cold

We are ahead of pace on snowfall for the season, and the average low temperature this month has been about 18 degrees below average. It is cold. Monday morning this week, the temperature in Kansas City was -11 degrees. As luck would have it, I was scheduled to be in […]

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Learning to Ski

As winter approaches each year, I cringe. Will my family want to go skiing? It’s not that I can’t ski; it’s just that I don’t like to.  At best, I am a spring skier – when the temperatures hover just above freezing and the sun shines, then skiing is tolerable. […]

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