My brother Tim told anyone who would listen that he obviously was the best of us four kids. “Perfect,” I believe was the word he used. Tim would look to Mom to confirm that he never caused a lick of worry, concern or trouble like his three siblings. Mom has yet to corroborate that ...

Back in my college days, my roommate, Brent, and I each had what appeared to the uneducated eye to be stacks of random chaos on our desks. “How can you work like that?” the uneducated interlopers demanded in disgust. They usually wrinkled their noses, too, which neither of us understood. ...

Valentine’s Day was easier to navigate 55 or so years ago. We carted shoeboxes to elementary school. Armed with blunt-nosed scissors, stacks of construction paper and Elmer’s glue, we cut out red hearts and purple flowers and pasted them onto our boxes. Well, the girls did hearts and ...

It’s Valentine’s Day and you forgot again, didn’t you? She was expecting candy or flowers or a card or at least something. Boy, are you in trouble! Here’s some advice from your ol’ Uncle Burtie — tell her you left it right there on the steps. Of course, you’ll want to actually ...

“Why?” Laura asked. Her oldies — I mean “real music” — station had just played Elton John’s 1983 hit “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues.” “Why is sadness associated with the color blue? Why not call it the grays if it has to be associated with a color?” Why ...

As I write this, wearing my mittens and three pairs of socks, the weather has warmed up to 14 degrees, with a feels-like factor of 4. Yes, you read that right: WARMED UP to 14. As an unnecessary reminder, water freezes at 32 degrees. So, if it was twice as warm outside, we still could turn ...