I can’t understand why I waited so long to do something that has bothered us for so many years. Yesterday, I finally decided to do something about the tremendous noise from our air conditioner and heater blower in a cabinet adjacent to the TV room. Whenever the air conditioner goes on, we grab for the remote to double the volume. … Read More
Go with Your Passions
Dora found a picture of a cat for Mr. Ebsen's granddaughter.
Years ago I learned, as a teacher, to reinforce or reward children with those things they enjoy doing, i.e., their passions. So I reinforced children with extra time for painting, extra time for building paper airplanes. Here I am this morning, 12 years into retirement, and I am thinking about what reinforces me. It is easy — the things I … Read More
Talk About Being in a Bind
Photo: George Hodan / publicdomainpictures.net
Five years ago, in an essay I called “In a Bind,” I wrote of the beauty of a professionally bound Shutterfly book compared with my home-produced, comb-bound books. I ended my essay by asking, “Why doesn’t a company produce a professional-type bookbinding machine for the home market?” That day has arrived. Numerous machines are available for under $200. In years … Read More
Happily, the Smell Went Away Fast
Yesterday, after many years of either holding my nose while drinking it or disguising the taste of my Metamucil, I decided it was time for a change. Yes, the Metamucil I had relied upon to keep me regular for so many years was replaced by its No. 1 competitor, Benefiber. To be more precise, Costco’s equivalent of Benefiber, Optifiber, five … Read More
Thank You for the Thank You
Why do I enjoy making popup cards for people’s kids? I enjoy making the cards, and I enjoy making kids happy. What if a kid doesn’t like my cards? How will I know if my cards are appreciated if I never hear from the kid or his/her family? When I looked at my email a few minutes ago, I saw … Read More
How to Defeat the Age Crisis
Time to make some changes. Exchange heavy socks for light ones. Sandals take the place of tennis shoes near my nightstand. Tee-shirts and shorts are moved to the front of the dresser drawers. Lighter weight PJs. On our trip to Costco today, I saw that the frozen cherries were nearly depleted. Time to stock up for the summer’s dearth of … Read More
Signs That We Are Advancing
Many years ago, before the home computer, I enjoyed searching for items in books and articles using indices. I enjoyed sorting items, using metal rods poked through cards with holes in them. The desired cards would literally fall off the sorting rod. Today, I enjoy searching and sorting with the help of my Mac computer. The Mac’s Spotlight tool performs … Read More
Learning How to Feed a Tasty Habit
It started a few weeks ago. I was at my daughter’s house and tasted one of her ubiquitous breakfast bars, a Fiber One Streusel Bar. It was good. And it was fiber healthy. Today I thought about those bars and decided to find some for my daughter and some for me. My daughter said she thought she found them at … Read More
Eat Your Heart Out – on Matzo, of Course
Robert Ebsen's Matzo Pizza
This Passover I discovered two great uses for whole wheat matzo: Matzo Pizza and Tuna Melt Matzo. I’m not kidding. The matzo pizza rivals Nagila Pizza, the thinnest, crispiest pizza this side of New York City. And the Tuna Melt Pizza, well, it’s so good I cannot even think of a tuna melt on toast anymore. First, the Matzo Pizza. … Read More
A Hobby That Should Stick with You
How often have you said to yourself, “Here is a new way to do this job. Why haven’t I tried this before?” I knew what my new Passion of the Week was when I started buying up adhesive tape runners. I mean, how long can you suffer using sheets of glue dots when the plastic sheets either tear too easily, … Read More