Perspective

As some of you may know from my blog earlier this year, I am currently in the process of looking for a Scottie puppy.  When I think back on how my family acquired pets in my youth (via a newspaper ad, a friend, or a local pet shop), I am both appalled at how naïve we where then about entering such a long-term relationship and mentally exhausted by the amount of effort now involved in finding a good purebred dog.
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On looking back and moving forward, by Terry Hollenstain.

My Danish ancestors are apparently restless once again. Recently, in another close encounter of the ghost kind, I received a message on Facebook from a “stranger”.  As I read the young woman’s note, I felt as though a spectral hand had just reached out and touched me on the shoulder.  Her question was simple — was I related to the Henry and Maria Hollenstein who had lived near Salinas, California in the early 1900′s? 

After noticing that the surname of the “stranger” was the same as that of Maria Bonde Hollenstein’s brother-in-law,  I responded that, yes, I was their great-great …

Maybe Jimmy Buffet had the right idea.

My first trip to Cancun was thirteen years ago during “spring break”.  Neither the accommodations nor the service at the resort at which I stayed made a good impression on me.  I left with no desire to see Cancun or that particular resort ever again. 

Fate, however, had other plans and I recently found myself returning to the same resort in Cancun in the “off season”.  In the interim, the resort had undergone a cosmetic “face lift”.

In spite of my initial  lack of enthusiasm about revisiting the resort in question, I found myself quite favorably …

What makes promises so difficult to keep?   

The dictionary defines “promise” as “a declaration that something will or will not be done, given, etc. by one”.  It sounds simple enough. You agree to do something and then you do it.  So why is it that so many promises are not kept?

Even worse, those who make and then break their promises often don’t seem to feel the least bit of remorse or the need to offer an apology or explanation for having broken their word.  

Currently, the college age daughter of one of my friends …

Blue, my Standard Schnauzer, is young and energetic.  He needs lots of exercise or he finds alternate ways to entertain himself, most of which involve the destruction of my shoes, flower beds, and other property.  So, in addition to nightly walks around our neighborhood, at least once a week I take him to one of the local dog parks so that he can run off leash and use up some of his amazing store of energy.

Although I was concerned, …

One my favorite things to do after tax season each year is to select tomato varieties for the coming gardening season. 

Around seven years ago, before I expanded my lawn into what had been my vegetable garden area in the interest of making my house more “marketable”, I had the …

Recently my Danish ancestors have risen and, much like the ghost of Hamlet’s father, are dancing around the edges of my life. Modern social media moves to an entirely different plane when you are contacted by the descendant of a business associate of your great-great-grandfather. 

It started with an e-mail from a woman whose ancestors were also involved in the Arizona silver boom in the late 1800’s (think Tombstone in the bad old days).  She is doing research for an article on the early history of Arizona …