• Weekend Wanderer: I Rented a Hot Car

    Weekend Wanderer: I Rented a Hot Car

    I am the first person ever to rent a car.  Now, I know what you’re saying.   And you’re right. My husband did, in fact, rent a car recently.  It was a bright blue Nissan Kick.   Each time my husband started the car, its Bluetooth tried connecting to Ihor’s phone.  We don’t know Ihor. But we…

  • Weekend Wanderer: It Was a Bad Week

    Weekend Wanderer: It Was a Bad Week

    It was one of those weeks.  You know the kind. The Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day weeks. The SpaceCamp weeks. The Deep Blue Sea weeks.   A week where everything goes wrong.   It started with my daughter, who plans to join her college scuba club.  So I can live in abject…

  • Community Remembers Worcester Resident, Special Olympic Hall-of-Famer Katie Spencer

    Community Remembers Worcester Resident, Special Olympic Hall-of-Famer Katie Spencer

    Special Olympic multi-sport athlete, advocate, and Worcester resident, Katie Spencer, died June 28 of cancer at the age of 35, writes Gary Miles for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Spencer was a captain for the Special Olympics basketball and soccer teams. She also played bocce, floor hockey, and bowling, among other sports. Over two decades, she won…

  • Weekend Wanderer: How Many Shopping Services Does One Woman Need?

    Weekend Wanderer: How Many Shopping Services Does One Woman Need?

    Near the end of Poltergeist, an invisible entity holds mom Diane in her bedroom, preventing her from reaching her children.  Her screaming children, settled in the very bedroom responsible for sucking one of them into the television at the movie’s start.   I mean, do you hate your kids, Poltergeist mom?  Breaking free, Diane finds the…

  • Weekend Wanderer: Cities of the World, We Need a Word

    Weekend Wanderer: Cities of the World, We Need a Word

    I have an agreement with the cities of the world.  I love cities. I find things to do in them, like museums and used bookstores.  I use public transportation and jaywalk, because I’m a yokel trying not to broadcast I’m a yokel. I flash my Oyster card and cross on red lights, all casual despite…

  • King of Prussia Mom Reunites with Man Who Assisted Her During Roadside Delivery

    King of Prussia Mom Reunites with Man Who Assisted Her During Roadside Delivery

    King of Prussia mom Andrenna Reid reunited with the Pennsylvania Turnpike employee who assisted her during a roadside delivery last month, according to a staff report from 6abc. Reid started having contractions and attempted to first drop off her one-year-old son with family before going to hospital. However, baby Santana had other plans. Andrenna Reid…

  • Weekend Wanderer: A Theory … or a Runaway Imagination

    Weekend Wanderer: A Theory … or a Runaway Imagination

    My son thinks my father-in-law is D.B. Cooper. Yes. The notorious plane hijacker. I would hesitate to say this in print but for two things.  One, my father-in-law is not, in fact, D.B. Cooper.   Two, I’ve broadcasted Willie’s tax evasion for, like, a year. Yet the IRS only just sent a letter to the Temple…

  • Weekend Wanderer: A Day at the Museum

    Weekend Wanderer: A Day at the Museum

    Last year, a friend and I visited a museum. Being the only visitors in the cozy, industrial space, we had a private tour with a volunteer guide. She greeted us enthusiastically. “You’re in luck!” she said. She’s an avid fan of the museum – and a performer in a local theater. Her warm brown eyes…

  • Weekend Wanderer: I Want to Get Rid of My Piano … Maybe

    Weekend Wanderer: I Want to Get Rid of My Piano … Maybe

    I could complain about this being scuba season, but you’ve probably had enough of that.  So I won’t tell you I’m unraveling because I’m scuba diving tomorrow.  Or that my daughter is attending scuba camp next week.  Or that she’s scuba diving in Topsail, where a shark attacked a swimmer three weeks ago.  It’s fine.…

  • Goodwill Keystone Strikes Gold with Vintage Mint-in-Box Nintendo Discovery

    Goodwill Keystone Strikes Gold with Vintage Mint-in-Box Nintendo Discovery

    One can only imagine the dusty Nintendo game system sitting on a Goodwill shelf, evoking the sad Toy Story 2 castoff fate of Jessie the Cowgirl before her rescue. The mid-1980s unit hadn’t even left its shrink-wrapped box. But when a local worker recognized it for what it was, everything changed. Goodwill Keystone Area, in…

  • Weekend Wanderer: Sometimes, I’m a Bad Parent

    Weekend Wanderer: Sometimes, I’m a Bad Parent

    I chose La Salle University for grad school because, well, the school has some good-looking dudes.  That’s it. That’s the only reason.  I didn’t care that I’m not Catholic.  I didn’t care about the distance.   I didn’t even care about the tuition. I was paying it myself anyway.  I was just that boy crazy.  A…

  • Stanley M. Friedman, Lansdale Architect Who Designed King of Prussia Plaza, Dies at 93

    Stanley M. Friedman, Lansdale Architect Who Designed King of Prussia Plaza, Dies at 93

    Stanley M. Friedman, of Lansdale, a former architect who designed the King of Prussia Plaza in 1963, died on June 14 aged 93, writes Gary Miles for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Friedman was also a veteran, a former city planner in Boulder, Colorado, and a longtime pilot and skier. He volunteered as a search and rescue…

  • King of Prussia Woman Gives Birth on Road with Help from Tow Truck Driver

    King of Prussia Woman Gives Birth on Road with Help from Tow Truck Driver

    When she started having contractions over the weekend, Andrenna Reid, of King of Prussia, thought she would have enough time to make it to the hospital, according to a staff report from 6 ABC Philadelphia. However, her newborn son, Santana Reid, had other ideas. Reid felt her contractions quickening around 3 AM on Father’s Day,…

  • Weekend Wanderer: A Dysfunctional Relationship with Time

    Weekend Wanderer: A Dysfunctional Relationship with Time

    It was a bright, balmy morning when I pulled into the Temple of Doom’s parking lot.  Willie had an appointment.   Willie’s primary care provider requested I accompany Willie on her visits with him since her unfortunate diagnosis.  Which sounds easy enough.  But for two things.  One, Willie’s doctor is a 40-minute drive from the Temple…

  • Weekend Wanderer: Summer Tax Season

    Weekend Wanderer: Summer Tax Season

    The taxes still are not filed.  To recap, last year I discovered Willie hadn’t filed a tax return since 2018.  Worse, it’s not like Willie carefully filed her tax documents for easy retrieval.  I mean, don’t be ridiculous, Cousin Larry.  The tax documents were scattered throughout Willie’s apartment like clues in an escape room.  But…

  • Weekend Wanderer: Becoming a Guardian in Montco

    Weekend Wanderer: Becoming a Guardian in Montco

    You might think Willie’s recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis could lead to not a lot of funny in this space.  But to quote every cartoon ever, au contraire mon frère.  It is the funny that will save us.  Just look at, for example, the guardianship.  My siblings and I decided to pursue guardianship of Willie. My brother…

  • Remembering Inspirational Limerick Woman Who Lived and Thrived Despite Numerous Lifelong Challenges

    Remembering Inspirational Limerick Woman Who Lived and Thrived Despite Numerous Lifelong Challenges

    Anastasia Pagan, an inspirational Limerick woman who persevered despite numerous lifelong physical challenges, died on May 20 at 22, writes Gary Miles for The Philadelphia Inquirer.  Pagan was born with a diaphragmatic hernia, chromosome abnormality, and pulmonary hypertension. She spent the majority of her life with her family in Montgomery County, and in hospitals and…

  • Weekend Wanderer: My Mercury Study

    Weekend Wanderer: My Mercury Study

    How, exactly, was my relationship with Indy defined by mercury?  It starts with Discover magazine.  I was on leave from work, out having breakfast with Indy, when Indy slid an issue of Discover across the table to me.  In its back pages, the National Institutes of Health advertised grant money for research on elemental mercury.  …