Monthly Archives: October 2018

I recently read a review of language-learning apps for my tablet, but it warned that it takes 500–4400 hours to become fluent.  With my atrophied brain, I would be on the high end of that range, so devoting 8 hours/day … Continue reading →

In the late 1940s, my family drove to New Jersey by going through Philadelphia to Vine Street, then over the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Before that, and for a while after, just for fun, we took the ferry to the New … Continue reading →

“Finished,” by Alice Gregory. The New Yorker, 10/8/2018. The term “Finishing School” has a quaint ring to it, like Bette Davis in an old movie, of time gone by, yet my Japanese-American mother-in-law, born in Pasadena, returned to Japan as … Continue reading →

The first Sears store I was aware of, sometime in the 1940s, was east of 69th Street, near Millbourne. I only went there once. It had the reputation of carrying cheap work clothes, which I did not wear. It seems … Continue reading →

I’m not a big fan of puns, but here is a list of ten that I found in my diary for 4/25/2010. I have no idea where they came from, but I must have thought they were pretty good eight … Continue reading →

The neighborhood where I now live was once known for its homes of DuPont’s middle management—the managers and supervisors. Higher management, the directors, lived in more upscale neighborhoods. Top management, the presidents and vice-presidents, lived on their estates in the … Continue reading →