Most people agree that pinewood derby cars fall into two classes: those obviously made by kids and those obviously made by parents. A few years ago two of my sons built winning cars that fell into the kid made category…

I didn’t really need anything from the market that day. What I really needed was a diversion from my work. Sad but true, Trader Joe’s did the trick. All was going according to plan until I noticed a display near…

“S-w-e-e-t, my mom bought Hostess cakes!” “Really? Does your mom, like, never buy sweet stuff for you guys?” “Are you kidding? Why would she? My mom bakes cookies, cakes, and pies all the time!” My son Wesley came home appalled.…

I am squirming, back-to-work-Monday, the first of the year smirking around the corner. Let’s face it, even teachers who love teaching have to oil their gears after three weeks of fa la la. So I find myself clicking through my…

Paper chains…oh how I love thee! Let me count the ways… 1. Easy enough for the whole family to help make. 2. Uses up random paper scraps that you feel guilty about just throwing away. 3. Every tool needed was…

A couple months ago the boys ran barefoot, shovels in hand eager to pull out the remnants of our summer garden. Last spring we transformed the decorative raised beds that edge our suburban lawn to vegetable patches, set up a…

Back in the summer of 2003, I took my children to Modigliani & the Artists of Montparnasse at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Sketchbook and pencil in hand, I patted each of them on the back and set…

I can tell you a lot about rabbit warrens; not necessarily their scientific side, like what makes them structurally sound or how far they reach below the earth, but what it feels like to dig them with one’s paws or…

The slow sizzle of sautéing onions was interrupted when Søren, donning a plaid woolen flat cap, came wandering into the kitchen asking for an interview with the cook. The accent was, thick, Russian gone awry, picked up most likely from…