Thursday Thought

Is it okay with you if I gripe briefly about the hotel industry? Diana and I just returned from a 10-day Florida trip where we stayed in three different hotels.  I noticed a common theme in all three of them: they work hard to impress you with their lobby—but not nearly as hard on the condition of your room.  In the lobbies of all three hotels, we encountered vaulted ceilings, iridescent artwork, and hammered glass dispensers offering cucumber-infused water at the turn of a spigot. So far, so good. All three of our hotels were name brand places.  All three…

You’ve been there, gazing into the night sky with friends, all of whom find a shooting star—except you. Or everyone in the car spots the huge eagle—except you.   That was my experience padding along the shoreline of Mickler’s Landing, on the southern end of Florida’s Ponte Vedra Beach. Famous for shark teeth, we were there on the hunt for these black triangular treasures that wash up on the shore. My granddaughter quickly found one in the foamy wash. Ditto my daughter, whose haul for the morning totaled seven. Me? I found none, despite many steps up and down the…

How long does a Sunday School teacher’s impact last? As a first-grader, it was riveting watching the Sunday School teacher stick images of Bible characters on a flannel graph.  There was just something about “seeing” Joseph and his coat of many colors. Or Daniel in the lions’ den.  The mischievous me admits to chuckling at the figures when they occasionally tumbled off the felt board.  But those stories somehow came alive (my wife, a preschool teacher, tells me that even in an age of iPads, kids still adore flannel graph stories). Around the second or third grade, I recall Mrs….

Ever hear of a town named Goofy Ridge? I didn't think so.  However, Goofy Ridge is a real place, near the center of Illinois. And that's not the only oddball city name in the Land of Lincoln.  There's Bonegap (southeastern Illinois) and Oblong, also southeast.   Head far south, and you'll arrive at a town named Muddy. But if you’re hungry, by all means, stop at Sandwich in DeKalb county.   Careful—or you might lose yourself in Lost Nation (Ogle County).  But you’re always welcome in Hometown (on the southeast border of Chicago).  Who knew city names could be so entertaining? On…

Christmas Eve with a six-year-old is a Christmas Eve is worth doing! So there we were—Lucy and me—at our church.  She snuggled up on my lap as we watched Pastor Jim Lennon sketch a large chalk-art presentation all timed to a music track.    At first, Pastor Jim’s broad strokes and dark colors impressed her.  But as the drawing continued, Lucy seemed a bit puzzled.  “What’s he doing?” she asked.  I explained that he was mixing colors for detail and depth.  “And what are those?” she inquired, pointing to some black rectangles in the upper left corner. I told her, “They…

Carl is one of those guys who calls ‘em as he sees 'em.  He works for a public school that features an annual Breakfast with Santa the first Saturday in December.  "It's a nice event," Carl assesses.  "Pancakes and sausages and Santa.  What's not to like?"   It’s a lot of extra work for Carl.  “We get maybe 100 kids with their parents.” But at this year’s breakfast with Santa, Carl—who is a believer—stood talking with a school official. "You know it's funny when you think about it," offered Carl.   "All this work because of a guy who doesn't even exist—Santa. …

There are 34,000 species of spiders in America, and this time of year, a disturbing number of them decide it’s time to crawl from the backyard into your home.  Hence, our daughter’s appointment with an exterminator. The pest control industry will pardon three-year-old, Sadie, for labeling the guy who showed up at her door as "Bug Guy." If Bug Guy was on a mission, so was Sadie. The moment he stepped inside their home, she got right to it.  "Hey, Bug Guy, do you love Jesus?"  Sadie giggled, but the man offered no reply as he clomped down the stairs….

“One more thing,” Tim said. “Next time you come over, can you bring the LEGOs?”  Our grown son is now a father of two, and his oldest is able to play, so—why not?  We were thrilled at the prospect of reclaiming some shelf space in his old closet. Having hauled the LEGOs to Tim's house, I pried off the dusty plastic lid.  Instead of a mound of red, white, and blue plastic bricks, I encountered the remains of several LEGO creations—along with handfuls of loose pieces. Two of the sub-assembly chunks were big enough we could snap them together and…

Imagine if CNN were around when the Pilgrims celebrated that first Thanksgiving…   CNN: Their homes are mostly huts, their story—more tragedy than triumph.  I'm speaking of the group of religious Separatists who left England for a 67-day ocean crossing on the Mayflower. Their voyage was about one goal: obtaining religious freedom.   I’m joined by William Bradford, a spokesman for the Separatists. CNN: Mr. Bradford, I understand your group paid a high price for this venture. Do you think in retrospect these folks who came over with you really understood what they were getting into? BRADFORD: They knew they were…

I just upgraded my cell phone—exciting, but a pain. I struggled with all those account numbers, PIN numbers, Apple ID…Yikes!   Doesn't it seem like getting a new phone should be a whole lot easier than it is? One thing jumped out at me—the intense interest the tech world exhibits in wanting to monitor my location.  I'm leery and—increasingly—irritated by the insatiable appetites of Google, Apple, Samsung, and others—to know of my location.   I get this feeling when installing (or reinstalling) an app. It's one thing for a map program to ask—but a bowling game?  C’mon! Observe the euphemistic label the…