When I was in the seventh grade, I learned to play the flute and was in the junior high school band. By the time I was a high school freshman, I played the piccolo in the marching band. The highlight of my band experience was playing the flute solo in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. Everyone in my family played a musical instrument. My older brother played the trumpet, my sister played the clarinet and my younger brother played drums. My father played the violin, banjo and guitar. He was a violinist with the symphony orchestra in our town, and also a violin-maker. One of my favorite childhood memories is of watching him carefully mold, shape and sand the wood, and I would help him string the bows.
Why is the shamrock associated with St. Patrick’s Day? Why do people wear green on that day? Who is St. Patrick, anyway?
I will go one step further and say that when I post a quote or share a story about something happy or uplifting, people seem to “like” it a lot. In fact, readers are often prompted to share these little tidbits with their friends and/or followers. Why is that? I’m no expert, but I have to believe that on some level it is because we are all hungry for something good. (I am not even thinking about Nutella right now. Promise. Oh, maybe a little.)
Being a Polish girl from Detroit, Rosie’s hotdog of choice is Kowalski, naturally. That said, I’m proud to have introduced her to a food that’s synonymous with Flint itself: the Koegel’s frank. Her first one was topped with the tantalizingly tangy red sauce that’s made the Flushing A so famous. Not wanting to get my Flint Card revoked, I also introduced our famous Coney – with its mounds of seasoned ground beef, mustard and onions (and a side of fries with gravy). We now reside in Novi, but a visit to my parents’ Flint home isn’t complete without a hot dog run … though I still miss the A&W drive-in on Clio Road
When saving for retirement, clients often ask about the difference between a 401(k) plan and a Roth IRA. Here is a quick outline about the potential drawbacks and benefits of each:
Unfortunately, some hotel beds don’t live up to the hype. Especially in Europe.
My first Valentine was my dad. Louis LoBue always made sure I had a heart-shaped box of chocolates accompanied by a gushy love note that never failed to make me smile. I am a sucker for Snoopy, Scooby Doo and just about any other sappy cartoon character plastered on a three-by-four inch card with a corny saying. Nothing melts my heart like Buggs Bunny in a rocket, with a thought bubble above him saying, Valentine, you take me to the moon! I guess I don’t see the harm in a day set aside to express love in silly ways.
I’m old enough to recall when “streaking” was all the rage, and a foolhardy soul dared to flash across the Academy Awards stage behind David Niven, who responded by quipping about the fellow’s “shortcomings.” And when the University of Michigan played Indiana for college basketball’s national championship on the same night as The Oscars; when one of the awards was to be announced, presenter/hoops fan Elliott Gould broke the silence after “And the winner is …” by interjecting, “Indiana, 86-68.” That was a great night for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (which won Best Picture that evening in 1976) – not so much for the Wolverines.
On December 30, 1936, during a shift change, workers took over Fisher Body Plant One. As one of one of two auto body stamping plants, the strike immediately got national attention. GM tried twice to use a court injunction to make the strikers leave, but it was discovered that the judges issuing those injunctions were GM stockholders. On January 11, city police tried with guns and tear gas to storm Fisher 2 plant, which had also been taken over by strikers, but failed in what is now called “The Battle of Bulls Run.”
First, I should clarify that I am not a movie buff, so if you are, please don’t call me up to tell me how much I don’t know. My favorite movies star Belle, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. In fact, I only know that the Academy Awards are in February because Ed Bradley says so in his column. But here’s my opinion as a non-movie buff. I find most movies nowadays to be unnecessarily long; I think somewhere along the way directors fell prey to the idea that longer equals better. In docu-drama type films, it always feels to me like the film is peppered with a bunch of random, pseudo-artsy scenes that have no bearing on the plot, and in action movies, the same long, disorienting (fake) fight scenes seem to take place over and over.
She got me thinking about something that happened to my son, Jeff, when he was six years old. My husband and a friend took Jeff and his older brother, Matthew, to the auto show in Detroit. The event was jam-packed with people, so my husband bought balloons and tied them around the boys’ wrists. His reasoning was that if they were to wander off and get lost in the crowd, they would be easier to find. And believe me, Jeff was known to frequently wander out of sight. He was a cute little boy with curly blonde hair, blue eyes and a sweet smile. But his middle name could have been Dennis the Menace, as trouble seemed to follow him everywhere he went. So, my husband was not too surprised when, after looking away for just a second, Jeff was no longer at his side. But he wasn’t too worried, as he could see the “locator balloon” bobbing in the distance.
The reason many of us fail at keeping resolutions is that we set goals that are impossible to reach. Don’t run … take baby steps. Start by taking a daily walk. I always told myself it was just too darned cold to walk in the winter. But I made a conscious decision to bundle up and walk three times a week. Each day it got a little easier and it was invigorating to be outside in the fresh, cold air.
