What do Easton PA, Orlando FL, Minneapolis MN, Plano TX and Chandler AZ all have in common? 

The Crayola Crayon of course!

Each of these five destinations are home to something called "The Crayola Experience," a creative and interactive crayon extravaganza. This is just the latest innovation since the first box of Crayola Crayons rolled off the production line way back in 1903. 

I remember the smell, feel, and palette of my childhood crayons well, an original set of 8. When I discovered there was a 64-crayon version WITH a built-in sharpener in the box, I was dazzled by the possibilities. Although never an artist, seeing that rainbow of colors sure made me wish I were.....

"Color is my day-long obsession, my joy and my torment." – Claude Monet

This morning when I woke up it was 18 degrees outside. There is a biting cold to the air today. And as we New Englanders say, you can smell snow in the air.

By the end of tomorrow there will be over a foot of snow covering the ground. But thoughts of shoveling and spreading salt and scraping windshields can wait. The best part of the snowstorm is right around the corner. It's the part where you throw a blanket over your lap and just watch the flakes topple from the sky......

“Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people's legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world.” ― Sarah Addison Allen

My college roommate grew up in Sandy Hook, CT.

After becoming a nurse she returned to the town in which she was raised, to take a job in the Sandy Hook school system. She spent her days tending scraped knees and tummy aches until December 14, 2012. The day that changed her hometown forever.

26 voices were silenced that day. And we're still asking why.

"We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We, too, are asking why." - Peter Lanza (father of the Sandy Hook shooter)

Our daily dose of daylight is shrinking. Colder temperatures are taking hold. Our required isolation due to concerns of infection remains.

December can be a tough month, even under the best of circumstances.

So let's just take it one step at a time. We don't need to move mountains. We just need to keep going. We don't need miracles. Just hope.

“Hope is holding in creative tension all that is, with everything that could and should be, and each day taking some action to narrow the distance between the two.” - Parker Palmer

Earlier this week was the 40th anniversary of the death of John Lennon.

I remember hearing he had been shot outside his home on the Upper West Side of NYC. It was a neighborhood with which I was familiar. Many years later I lived within ten blocks or so in an apartment I sublet for a short while. During that stretch I would often find myself walking by the Dakota, craning my neck to see into the courtyard I saw on the news that night in December of 1980. What if, I would wonder. What if......

John Lennon was a cultural icon, a musical genius, and a spirited advocate for peace. Apparently he came by this rightly, encouraged by his mother to value things our society often doesn't.

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life." - John Lennon

Today Buddhists across the globe celebrate Bodhi Day, the day when Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment.

Siddhartha was on a quest to discover the cause of suffering. For years he had followed a practice of extreme asceticism, avoiding all indulgences through a rigid display of self discipline. But eventually he decided to just sit underneath a tree and meditate. The answer came to him during this quiet and peaceful practice. Having gained enlightenment, he was finally free.

There is so much suffering in the world it can discourage even the most well-intentioned. So let us be inspired by the Buddha and reclaim our words as a first step on this journey. There are few things more powerful than language.

"The tongue is like a sharp knife. It kills without drawing blood." - Buddha

Bette Midler. The Divine Miss M. Loud, irreverent, sometimes bawdy, but always an original.

One day I confessed to my wife I had never seen Bette Midler in concert, despite loving her performances in "The Rose," "Beaches," and of course her take no prisoners persona in "The First Wives Club." Beth was aghast. She insisted we see Bette immediately but only if we could do it in Las Vegas. Nothing less would do. Ms. Midler was an original after all. It was Caesar's Palace or bust.

Bette Midler acts as a reminder of the importance of celebrating originality, even when it means being out of step with the conventions of the day. Viva la differénce.

"I didn't belong as a kid, and that always bothered me. If only I'd known that one day my differentness would be an asset, my early life would have been much easier." - Bette Midler

These days I spend a lot of time waiting.

I'm waiting for the world to feel safe again. I'm waiting to travel, to plan dinner parties, and to go museums. I'm waiting to hop on a subway car, go to a baseball game, and meander through the stacks of my local library.

I am a patient person by nature. But the past nine months have stretched my patience to the limit.

Simone Weil reminds me of the benefit of thinking differently about waiting. Perhaps waiting is not punishment but preparation.

"Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life." - Simone Weil

Every day I feel like I'm running a sprint. Full steam ahead. No looking back. Pedal to the metal.

Which works if you are busy checking tasks off a list. But if you're trying to untangle or change more complicated inbred behaviors, sprints don't cut it. Sometimes you need to grind out a marathon before reaching the finish line.

If your marathon feels more like a zigzag, take heart. We'll all get there eventually.

"History and movements do not move in straight lines. They swing, they go forward and backward and in zigzags." - Helen Zia

A few days ago, one of my favorite country music artists died of complications of early onset dementia. Hal Ketchum was just 67 years old.

I was a late comer to the country music scene, being fully immersed in the world of twang only after I moved to Montana. One day, after loving him from afar, I got the opportunity to meet Hal. We were both waiting for a flight at DFW airport. He was sitting across from me, sporting these scuffed up boots and faded jeans. But the hair. Oh that hair. It could make any girl swoon.

As a longtime fan, today's quote comes from his song, "Stay Forever." I only wish he could have......

"If you could see inside, this aching heart of mine. Maybe you would stay forever." - Hal Ketchum

Every December 1st, my mother would dutifully dig around in the drawers of our dining room hutch and pulled out her silver-plated candy dishes. Then she filled all of them with sticky colorful ribbon candy. It was her way to mark the calendar's final month, one sweet morsel at a time.

I grew to love this brittle bended treat, although I don't remember being allowed to eat much of it. The ribbon candy was clearly for decoration. If my sweet tooth was aching, my mother gave me a candy cane. But the almighty ribbon candy was eye candy, dressed to the nines, as it were, in its fancy silver-plated bowls.

I miss my Mom. On Mondays and every other day.

“Candy is natures way of making up for Mondays." - Anonymous 

In the age-old Batman v. Superman debate, it was the Caped Crusader for me. Hands down.

I was utterly taken with the debonair Bruce Wayne and his secret alter-ego back in the mid-1960's. I loved the campy, gadget-filled, "good guy always wins" format of the original t.v. show. So much so that I have never felt compelled to partake of any other iteration. No Batman comic books or Batman movies for me. I am an Adam West devotee through and through.

Clark Kent, you never had a chance.

"In the late '60s, there were the the three B's: The Beatles, Batman, and Bond." - Adam West

On the cusp of beginning our Thanksgiving holiday, it only seemed right to post a closing byte about gratitude.

Given the circumstances of our current COVID-19 existence, it can be hard to maintain an attitude of thankfulness these days. But then again, how can I not be grateful with all of you in my life?

"If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough." - Meister Eckhart

When I was in high school, I remained skeptical that geometry, calculus, algebra, and the like would play a significant role in my life. "WHY do I need to know this stuff?" I bleated.

I was wrong of course. But I didn't know it back then. I didn't know that stretching your mind and problem solving and trying to understand the magic underneath the heartbeat of how the world worked was important.

Recently, while walking in my old neighborhood, I saw a plaque attached to a rock. I can NEVER walk by a plaque without reading it so I crossed over a small patch of grass to see what all the fuss was about. It was an explanation of how the trees planted next to the road were spaced in such away as to demonstrate the Pythagorean theorem.

Touché, I thought. My math teacher was right again......

"Numbers rule the universe." - Pythagoras

When I was a kid my mother used to watch this fitness guru named Jack LaLanne. His was the first televised exercise program of its kind. I remember he wore this funny jumpsuit while doing jumping jacks and sit ups, coaxing all of us to do the same.

He quickly became a household name and started doing stunts to show off his strength and endurance. At 42 years old he did over 1,000 push ups in 23 minutes. Then, at age 45, he did 1,000 jumping jacks and 1,000 chin ups in 1 hour 22 minutes. He even swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf while handcuffed. 

His popularity eventually landed him a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame. During the ceremony he did push ups over his star. He was then 88 years old.

I'm no Jack LaLanne. But I do appreciate his enormous disciple and dedication. That said, my Irish upbringing bent a bit more toward camaraderie and the virtues of a good nap.....

“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” – Irish proverb

If you missed Cinema Sunday yesterday, you missed a real treat. Angela Bassett spoke of her role in Black Panther in both sweeping cultural tones and with an eye toward the details of her craft. It was fascinating.

But the thing I enjoyed most were her insights into the emotional core of her work. She has tilled the earth of her life and seems to appreciate the longer lens she now enjoys as a woman of a certain age. Waiting to exhale no longer.

Middle age can offer a number of unexpected surprises. Like Ms. Bassett, I didn't meet my spouse during my salad days. But I'm with you Angela. Sometimes waiting is your best move......

"Maybe if you're younger you have more energy - but that's a maybe. Because at this stage of life, I have more patience, understanding, wisdom, resources - and a husband. I didn't get him until I was 39. But I got a good one." - Angela Bassett

I downloaded this new app for my phone called SkyView Lite. As you tilt the phone upward, it labels all the stars and planets in view, as well as the constellations of which they are a part.

It works even during the day AND, if you point the phone at the floor, it will show you the stars on the other side of the globe. Just the other day I discovered the International Space Station orbiting beneath my dining room table.

Stars. Magical dazzling pieces of light. Bringing a little bit of heaven to earth.

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.” 

― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

I'm sure you've seen it by now. The photo mashup gone viral of Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris and a then 5-year old Ruby Bridges walking into her New Orleans' elementary school. 

It's hard to imagine the burden of integration was shouldered by such a young girl. But it wasn't until yesterday that I gave any thought to the other woman in Ruby's shadow .... her mother.

On November 10, 2020 Lucille Bridges, mother of four, died at the age of 86. 

Nearly 60 years ago to the day (November 14, 1960) she took Ruby's hand, and flanked by four federal agents, made her exit out of William Frantz Elementary School at day's end. A day like no other.

Living now, during a time when the term "helicopter parenting" is common parlance, Lucille's choice to place her child at such risk may seem unimaginable. But sometimes the unimaginable is the only way forward.

"I think I speak for all mothers who want the best for their children when I hope for the same moral courage, bravery and love as that of Lucille Bridges. May she rest in God's perfect peace." - LaToya Cantrell (Mayor of New Orleans)