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Burton Cole

New Year’s questions that gray my hair

Mark Twain once said of fellow author Rudyard Kipling, “Between us, we cover all knowledge; he knows all that can be known, and I know the rest.” There’s great wisdom in that. Like Twain, I, too, am pretty handy with things that can’t be known. Why do I focus on what can’t be known? ...

Thoughtful shopping without leaving your recliner

It’s the last weekend before Christmas, which has me thinking — I’m thinking that it’s almost time to round up a bunch of thoughtful gifts to give. The best part is I don’t even have to put on pants. I can recline here in my easy chair, tap a few keys, scroll through a few ...

When? I’ll get to it precisely at — later

What is it about detail people? If I tell you I’ll get back to you later, that’s precisely when you’ll hear back from me — later. I don’t see how I can be any more exact than that. Yet some persnickety people insist on knowing the time, down to the minute. My late wife — and ...

Remember, just keep on driving, keep on driving

I don’t mean to brag, but I drove somewhere without my GPS. And arrived where I meant to be. Without getting lost once. Seriously. This would be ho-hum news a few decades ago. Then technology began erasing our memories. Not erasing, exactly. More like replacing. When I was a teen, I ...

We’re smiling through the seasonal tears

For many of us, tears accompany this joyful season of giving thanks and giving gifts. We’re missing hearts that used to beat alongside ours. I used to think that it would be a blessing that if once, just once, I wouldn’t be told that I had arranged the Thanksgiving table the wrong way ...

Say that again, but this time, make it make sense

Whenever life has me stumped and I don’t know what to do next, I sit back and ponder, “What would HE do?” He, of course, refers to that bear whose head is stuffed with fluff, Winnie-the-Pooh. Pooh Bear himself once said, “When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of ...