Digging for the Pony

Posted by on Feb 23, 2012 in dish | 0 comments Most of us have heard the story about the man who wanted to teach an optimist a lesson. He’d finally had enough of the optimist’s good nature, sunny outlook, and buoyant spirit. Frankly, the optimist bugged the living daylights out of him. So, he filled the optimist’s room with manure. Instead of freaking out (as most people would), the optimist grabbed a shovel and got to...
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You Ain’t No ‘Lectric Elephant

Posted by on Jan 8, 2012 in dish | 0 comments I grew up in awe of my maternal grandmother. A farmer’s daughter, she rarely had idle time. Nearly every hour of the day, she was busy—cooking, managing the books for the farm, making phone calls, volunteering at the church—and that was when she was retired! This is a woman who woke every morning at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am (so I thought then; I’ve since discovered I share her love of early...
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First Footings

Posted by on Jan 1, 2012 in dish | 0 comments New Year’s Day is a big deal in the Scottish culture. Trust me, you haven’t partied until you’ve done it with people in kilts and bagpipes. “Auld Lang Syne” was written by Robert Burns, remember? Hogmanay, as the celebration is called, has a number of traditions, but one of the most fun is the First Footing. According to Scottish tradition, the first person to cross the threshold of your home in...
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Snowed Under

Posted by on Oct 21, 2011 in dish | 0 comments I wish I could claim actual snow–that would be interesting and fun–but alas, no. The blizzard I’m facing is the end-of-term stack of paperwork. Grades are due Wednesday, so I’m full up with whining children who complain about bad grades (usually due to missing assignments) and grovel for makeup work. As I like to tell them, “There’s not enough extra credit in the world to make up for...
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Downsizing

Posted by on Jul 23, 2011 in dish | 0 comments Four pounds doesn’t seem like much when you’re hefting it in the grocery store. Heft that thing in a travel bag through a bunch of airports (Atlanta’s being a standout problem), up and down elevators and across pedestrian bridges in hotels, it gains mass the way most of us do during Christmas cookie time. Four pounds of laptop over your shoulder starts carving a groove in said...
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