Pandemic is a contemporary board game in which the players work cooperatively to wipe out four global diseases before they overwhelm humanity. Honora and Tristan came back from their 2016 road trip raving about this game that they had played in Seattle, so I bought it to bring on a Virginia beach trip last summer. The kids and I really liked it; ( Read more... )

Tonight I served artichokes as a first course.

"Whoa," says Tristan, "we're having a first course?"

I wanted the kids to try them.

As I set them down, I said, "My dad used to get these sometimes. I haven't had one since I was a teenager."

I gave them a little lesson in artichoke and melted butter management. Then I thought about what I said. ( Read more... )

So I made myself go over to my dad's apartment to get the duty-lunch over with this afternoon. I brought him a durian because he's mentioned them to me and I didn't know if he'd ever had one. Icky old-person smell of the apartment, and my usual dread of his physical presence. My dad is 92. He's becoming skinny and stringy and often has crumbs ( Read more... )