So … how’s everyone doing? Read More ⇒
When Watertown native Michael J. Leoni hit the streets of Los Angeles six years ago to gather insight into the teen homeless issue of the city where he lives, he expected it to be a short project and to the point. Read More ⇒
One of the toughest things about having kids during the COVID-19 pandemic is trying to find ways to entertain the kids when places like parks and beaches — God, especially beaches — just look like overcrowded disease factories. Read More ⇒
It’s a little after 10 a.m. on a Monday, and I’m playing some board game or another with my boys and trying to put some coffee in my face when the youngest, Ben, decides he wants to go to the playground. Read More ⇒
“People are paying more attention to tweets (not the Twitter kind).” Read More ⇒
I’m sitting outside on our driveway, surrounded by Ben’s chalk drawings and about a half dozen small plastic Lego figures and otherwise faceless toys — all of which Ben calls “Mario.” Read More ⇒
Louise Pierce of Norwood, who turned 94 on Friday, is no stranger to quarantine life. Memories flooded back to her a few weeks ago when she read an article in the Watertown Daily Times by Indanapolis-based columnist Lori Borgman who, in the column, recalled her father-in-law, Hub, and his qu… Read More ⇒
On a recent Friday night working on the Times’ design desk, I sent my final page for the evening, checked in with the rest of the staff to see if there was anything left for me to do and I quickly retired from work a good 15 feet to my refrigerator and I cracked open a bottle of Unibroue’s g… Read More ⇒
It all started with such promise. Read More ⇒
I’m not a person who thinks very much about the future. Read More ⇒
It’s the holiday season, and they call it a whole season for a reason. Read More ⇒
Q: I’m already dreading the holidays. Our 8-year-old is a very excitable child and our family is expected to attend numerous holiday get-togethers at the homes of family members. When he’s included in events where there’s lots of excitement and anticipation in the air, he has a reputation fo… Read More ⇒
I-PASS is the nifty system where you stick a gizmo to the windshield of your car and automatically pay tolls from an online account, which lets you forgo stopping at toll booths and fishing around for money to throw in the basket. Read More ⇒
One of the many pleasures of my first trip to Flashback Brewing Co., 1309 State St., Watertown, a few weeks back is a 10-minute conversation about the merits (there are so many) of a runny egg. Read More ⇒
It’s 4:45 a.m. as I sit by the kitchen table writing. The boys already left for work. Their bags are packed and ready for our departure to Kentucky at 1:30 p.m. They will work a half day, come home, shower, and be ready to go. Read More ⇒
As tourists from a cruise ship strolled about the village of Clayton’s downtown on Sept. 12, murals along James Street stopped them in their tracks. Cell phones popped out of pockets to capture photos of the colorful scenes of river and early village life painted on the outside walls of the … Read More ⇒
Let’s get this out of the way up front … I’m not much for camping. Read More ⇒
On July 20, 1969, millions of people around the globe watched as Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. Read More ⇒
We have entered the month of August and the sun is shining this morning as I sit writing at the desk. I am by the east window, but the wraparound porch keeps the sun from shining in the windows. It makes nice sleeping with the cool evenings. Read More ⇒
One of the things I hate about being sick is the side effects of medication. Read More ⇒
About three dozen graduates, with robes of green — a color that signifies life, renewal and energy, proudly stood in front of family and friends at a conference room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Watertown on the evening of June 13. Cheers erupted as they moved their golden tassels from one si… Read More ⇒
Blessings as we travel into an unknown future Read More ⇒
I’m sitting out on the porch at Wood Boat Brewery on Mary Street in Clayton on a (mostly) sunny day in June with a beer in my hand and Bob Marley singing “No Woman, No Cry” from a nearby speaker, and so you might assume I’m enjoying a pleasant spring afternoon. Read More ⇒
“He took a mulligan and hit it into the lake.” So said historian Jon Meacham, my co-panelist on Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” in a quippy but devastating conclusion about former special counsel Robert Mueller. He did so after I had delivered the center-right legal world’s hardening conclusion t… Read More ⇒
Democratic candidates make a mistake in failing to lace into President Donald Trump when he says things that are patently false, insulting to the military and reaffirm his unfitness as commander in chief. Granted, that could be a frequent occurrence, but sometimes the moment cries out for a … Read More ⇒
The Rev. Vincent T. Freeh has been on a mission for 60 years since he became an ordained priest in 1959. It was then that he declared his faithfulness to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Read More ⇒
There was only one time that I saw my mother-in-law cry. She was a dichotomy, a woman who loved unconditionally and a tough cookie. Read More ⇒
So I’ve never understood the whole SPOILERS (all caps intentional) thing. Read More ⇒
You can talk about the Vernal equinox all you want, but for me, the winter ends and the spring begins with that first pitch at Yankee Stadium every year. Read More ⇒
I’ve been thinking a lot about stouts these days. Read More ⇒
There’s something about the weather we’ve been having lately — the freezing temperatures, the 3½-plus feet surrounding my driveway — that really makes you appreciate a good, boozy Imperial Stout. Read More ⇒
I was getting ready to leave for work on New Year’s Day, when I had an idea. Read More ⇒
Raquette River Brewing, a microbrewery tucked a few hundred yards off Main Street in Tupper Lake, was a popular topic over the past few months any time I ran into my boss. Read More ⇒