In last week’s post, I listed all the things we did with our friends from Northern Ireland while they were visiting. One thing I forgot to include: my visit to the Ela Area Public Library In Lake Zurich, IL. Well, actually I didn’t forget to include it – I left it off the […]

The movie Blindness premiered last Friday, starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. It’s based on the 1995 novel by Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago — I listened to the audio version of the book years ago, when it was first publishsed. The book was praised for its use of blindness as a metaphor — a bunch […]

          A fourth grader raised his hand Friday and asked,” What happens when you go to Wrigley Field?” We were at Emma Melzer Elementary School, doing the “q&a” part of our presentation. Meltzer School is in Morton Grove, a northern suburb of Chicago. Like most north-siders, the principal -and many of […]

You know who Billy Balducci is, right? The bartender at Hackney’s, our local tavern? The guy sitting next to me in that photo from an October blog post? You know, the post called Cheers!? It’s been a year since I started this Safe & Sound blog, and out of all the posts I’ve published, thatCheers! […]

Our Friday flight from O’Hare had been delayed four hours. By the time Hanni, Mike and I got to Morristown, I was ready for a glass of wine. Or two. Or three.  “Will Merlot do?” Jim Kutsch asked. “If not, just let me know — we have a wine cellar in the basement.” Yeesh! Jim […]