Short stories and photos shared with humor and love
Twenty-five year ago today, our daughter Katherine sang the National Anthem at the Packer home opener. As she stood there alone on that iconic field, pig-tailed and nearly tripping inside her grandpa's giant jersey, we worried the experience might traumatize her, that she might forget the words or freeze in terror when she eyed the [...]
Not all heroes of the Lombardi era Packers wore helmets, some wore heels and housecoats, another his signature fedora. Even as those vaunted teams made their historic romp through NFL record books, they also set precedent off the field. Vince and Marie Lombardi packed their principles along with their parkas when they came to Green [...]
Where I live, summer wafts in on merry waves of music. It rises like yellow daffodils from parks, bandshells and tavern courtyards. Summer is a song here in Appleton, and we privileged mortals just have to find a seat somewhere and listen. Last night, as I sat in a lawn chair and listened to the [...]
Like Meg Ryan's character in You've Got Mail, I am a big fan of daisies. The fragile appearance of their petals belie the determined stretch of their roots. They stand tall against inevitable storms with an admirable reliability. Harbingers of joy, they spring up early, stay late and tend happily to the task at hand. [...]
Like the child who planted it, our pepper plant has moments of glorious triumph. It rises from unconventional roots, stretched surprisingly deep against a cement floor. Peppers are meant to be seasonal fruit, but this one weathers all kinds of storms with a stubbornness that both impresses and confounds. Last year, we thought it had [...]