Stan Davis: Classic cars, beans and franks

My father, Stan Davis, passed away about a year and a half ago, and I'm sure that heaven still hasn't recovered from his arrival. I'm certain that because of him, there is at least one KFC store up there now, as well as an outlet mall, a couple of apartment complexes and maybe a new subdivision or two.

So many people loved Stan during his lifetime, and a number of them considered him their mentor. People who knew him talk to me about him all the time, always with a smile on their face. He was a completely self-made man, raised modestly in Reading, Mass. He left Penn State before graduating to join the Navy, and went on to fly seaplanes in the Pacific during World War II. Over his lifetime, his pursuits included: commercial pilot, aerial advertiser, golf course owner, salesman, KFC owner (6 stores), Wynn's auto products distributor (40 salesmen), apartment, condo and home builder, hotel and outlet mall owner, classic car dealer, and inventor (corn-shaped popcorn bowl). I'm sure I've left several careers out, but that's a start.

Stan was an inveterate storyteller, and like most people with big personalities, a lot of stories revolved around himself. I thought I would share a few Stan stories and memories for Father's Day--some of them will be familiar to his friends, and some are just, well, Stan being Stan.

He survived a lot of plane crashes: By our count he walked away from at least five plane crashes. The one that seemed amazing to me as a child occurred during the late 1950s, when he lost an engine just short of the runway at Logan and put the plane down in Boston Harbor. My mother Jeanne was with him, and she went into shock from the crash, unable to undo her seat belt and escape the sinking plane. When he realized she hadn't escaped, Stan dove back into the plane, wrenched her door open and dragged her to safety. The crash made the front page of all the local newspapers. My mother always thought it was unfair that Stan looked dashing and Errol Flynn-like in his pictures, while she was shown with bedraggled hair and her feet in a tub of hot water.

Stan loved butter: According to my mother, after a night of hijinks the two of them often ended up an all-night diner, where, after consuming a plate of bacon and eggs, Stan would take his knife and shave off pieces of butter and...eat them. Plain. (I plead the Fifth on whether I, as the inheritor of what is known as "the butter gene," have ever done anything similar).

He brought a Lamborghini home from Italy-and inspired Jay Leno: Stan and Jeanne were touring Italy around 1970 with a group of Wynns' salesmen. They visited the Lamborghini factory and he fell in love with an eye-popping model with blue metallic paint and a glass roof. A month later the "Lambo" rolled off a ship in Boston and quickly became the toast of the greater North Reading area. My mother wasn't crazy about it, saying she felt like she was riding around in a fish bowl, but we kids loved the car and the crowds it would inevitably attract. Years later Stan treasured a quote from Andover native Jay Leno, in which Jay says that as a kid he saw some guy driving his Lamborghini around town and it fired his determination to own a car like that himself someday.

Beans and franks was his favorite meal: Stan detested fancy food. Dragged to brunch at the lovely Andover Inn, he announced (loudly) about the smoked salmon "I hate that slimy *%$#." He loved popcorn, vanilla pudding, Cool Whip, and cheap low-fat ice cream. There were always cans of B & M baked beans in the house. He drank Dewars and soda and wouldn't touch wine or champagne (unless there was nothing else to drink, in which case he drank them liberally). He went through gallons of lemon-flavored Crystal Light.

He bought a big red building and transformed it: Around 1980 Stan bought the building at 1 Charles Street in Newburyport that is now the James Steam Mill, when it was a derelict old structure housing a few light industries. When he complained about the heating bill to the city's building inspector he was told "You bought that big red m%#$*&@#--it's your problem!" Well, those were fighting words. Mr. Davis went to Washington, secured Section 8 funding (I pity those poor legislators who tried to go against him, I really do), and the James Steam Mill went on to become one of the most beautiful affordable housing buildings in the country.

Stan in a nutshell: He hated high-priced car mechanics. He often took his Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and Ferraris to places like Jiffy Lube, and was usually very satisfied with the service he received.

Happy Father's Day, Dad, and I know you'll keep things hopping up there. Heaven needs an entrepreneur like you.

This article was originally published in the Newburyport Daily News, May 2017

My dad Stan, the Colonel, and me

Anybody here like Kentucky Fried Chicken?

I thought so. Quite a few of you. It's pretty tasty stuff. You don't necessarily want to have it every day, but it sure tastes good. For me, eating Kentucky Fried Chicken is a Proustian walk down memory lane, one that leads me straight back into my KFC-filled childhood.

It's been a year since my father, Franklin Stan Davis, of North Andover, formerly of Reading and North Reading, passed away. Some of you may have read his obituary last year at this time in The Eagle-Tribune and The Daily News of Newburyport It was hard to miss, to be honest - one of the biggest obits either paper has ever run, I believe. If you read it, you learned that he introduced Kentucky Fried Chicken to New England in 1965.

Stan's life-long love affair with KFC began when he happened upon a Kentucky Fried Chicken store, probably the very first one in the nation, during a business trip to Louisville, Kentucky. Being curious about everything and a fried chicken fanatic to boot, he went in and tried some.

The rest, as they say, is history. He went crazy over it. He thought it was the most amazing chicken he had ever tried. He brought a box home and when he returned in the middle of the night, he woke my mother up, demanding that she eat it and wasn't it incredible? I'm not sure how impressed she was with cold, days-old chicken at midnight, but no matter. Dad was off and running. He built one store, and over time, five more - among them stores in Waltham, Stoneham, and Leominster.

Naturally, my childhood featured a good deal of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The restaurants were still called Kentucky Fried Chicken then, the name not shortened to KFC as it is now to diminish the impact of the evil F-word (fried). In the old days all of the stores featured the big rotating chicken bucket that was the franchise's signature, and we kids loved that bucket. We went exclusively to the Stoneham location, as it was the closest to our home in North Reading.

I don't know if they still do this, but franchisees at that time had to attend chicken cooking school before opening a store, so that they would know what went into making chicken the Kentucky Fried way (11 different herbs and spices, secret recipe, etc.). Even as a kid, I found it nearly impossible to believe my father handled and cooked actual chicken - or that he cooked ANYTHING other than his beloved franks and beans - but it must have happened. He certainly never participated in the cooking after that, which was probably for the best.

Back to our Kentucky Fried outings. We kids almost always got the snack box, which was a drumstick and a small breast or thigh, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a biscuit. In those days they included a small package of honey with the box, and we loved drizzling the honey over the warm biscuit. But my sister and I were not big on the coleslaw, and the sight of the three-bean salad would elicit hysterical retching from the back seat of the car.

There were very few parties at the Davis house that did not feature Kentucky Fried Chicken, and my parents had a lot of parties. I still remember how exciting it was when the huge silver trays full of chicken would be brought in, steaming hot and smelling delicious. My father took great offense when my mother suggested that occasionally they might serve their guests something other than Kentucky Fried Chicken, and he made a strong case for having it at my wedding (he lost that battle).

Eventually Stan's interest in real estate outpaced his interest in the restaurant business, and he sold the stores. He never lost his love of the chicken, however. He was very excited when KFC came out with its crispy variety, although he remained a purist and usually ordered it traditional style. Next time you find yourself in a KFC, perhaps you could think of Stan Davis for a moment as you enjoy your food. He was all about sharing things that he loved with the world, and he would be really pleased to be remembered over a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

As the lucky ones, we can help

It's a gorgeous early fall day, warm as summer. I'm biking around the Big Parker quarry in Rockport. Leaves are starting to turn red and yellow, and the water is a brilliant blue. Another biker appears in front of me on the narrow trail, and we stop to pass each other. We nod and smile.

"Lovely out today."

"Isn't it? We're so lucky."

"Aren't we? Enjoy yourself."

"You, too."

And off we go, to enjoy the rest of our ride, the rest of our day. Everything around us is beautiful and whole. There are no downed trees or power poles, no roofless houses, no blocked roads, no wrecked cars and trucks. In Rockport, in Newburyport, in West Newbury - everything is as it should be and we are all enjoying a beautiful Sunday.

We're so lucky.

Right now, there are places in the world, some in the United States, some international, that are badly damaged, some devastated beyond what we can imagine.

In Houston and parts of Florida, the hurricane winds and waters have receded but anyone who has ever been through a damaging storm or even a minor flood knows what comes after - dealing with damaged roofs, wrecked drywall and carpeting, ruined clothing, ruined photo albums, ruined computers. Mold everywhere. Every single part of life that we take for granted needing to be put back together.

Mexico City recently suffered a 7.1-magnitude earthquake, killing more than 150 people and collapsing dozens of buildings. Hundreds of other buildings may be compromised. We've seen the films of search-and-rescue teams struggling to find trapped victims, pictures of Frida the Labrador with her boots and goggles on, helping them, working against the clock to save human lives.

The Caribbean islands have taken a terrible hit. Some, including St. Thomas, St. John, much of the BVIs, the Turks and Caicos, and smaller and less well-known islands such as Barbuda, were devastated by Irma.

Others which had largely been spared by that storm - notably Puerto Rico and St. Croix - were slammed hard by Maria. Conditions are described as apocalyptic in Puerto Rico, with almost all communication and electrical services ravaged, roads washed away and blocked, houses gone. The island has been almost completely destroyed.

I take the devastation of the Virgin Islands as a personal blow. I am a huge fan of the USVI, and I have been lucky (there's that word again) to have spent a fair amount of time there.

My parents took me on numerous trips to St. Croix and the other islands as a child, and now my husband shares my love for this incredible part of the world. Each of the islands is wonderful in its own way, and certainly St. John, before the hurricane, was probably the most beautiful but we have a special fondness for St. Thomas and a little hotel complex called Bolongo Bay.

I always knew there was something special about Bolongo. It's the type of place where you feel instantly at home, where people who love it come back year after year. It's not the fanciest place on the island but it has one of the biggest hearts and that's on display in a huge way right now.

According to managing director Richard Doumeng, the hotel is housing government relief workers and homeless staff members, many of whom have lost everything. The hotel's management has set up a GoFundMe account, with all money raised directed toward providing basic necessities for hotel staff as they go about the long process of rebuilding their lives.

It doesn't surprise me that the management of Bolongo is housing and caring for their staff. The loving spirit of the place could always be felt; now, the rest of the world can see it. The complex suffered less damage than many other businesses on St. Thomas, but along with the rest of the island, is facing a long uphill climb.

The Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico. Mexico. Parts of Texas and Florida. Many difficult days lay ahead for some people. It's very easy to forget how life has changed for others when nothing looks different to us.

Fall is coming and New England is as beautiful as ever. Our lives are busy and we all have our own joys and problems. But if nothing else, we can spare a thought for people whose lives have been upended, and just as importantly, we can spare them some cash, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 - pick one of those sums, or one that works for you, and send it to your favorite charity.

The Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Samaritan's Purse - these are all good, and there are many others equally worthy. Don't feel that the scope of these disasters is overwhelming and that there is nothing you can do.

Few of us are equipped to physically aid in the recovery efforts but many of us can put our dollars together to assist, and that's just as valuable.

Today, we are the lucky ones. Today, we can help someone.

Published by the Daily News of Newburyport

After the Storm

Everywhere trees bent double, fingertip branches that traced the sky
Now dug deep in snow and held fast, upside down,
In cold white straitjackets.
Some will free themselves from winter's grip, and spring back,
Shaking themselves in the wind like a dog.
Some are cracked and will move no more.
Others wear great blond gashes where limbs were torn--
Jagged gouges revealing an unprotected core.
Tangled wires hang at head-height,
And boughs small and great litter lawns and roadsides.
Fully budded, grey and red, now to wither on the ground,
And never unfurl their leaves and paint the summer sky green.

The throaty roar of generators drowns out birdsong,
A strange racket on this blue and white day.
"Do you have power? Do you?"
Waiting for the spark to leap from house to house.
And when it does, quiet relief

And coffee.

Written on March 10, 2018 by Marilyn Archibald. Dedicated to the power and tree crews and emergency management personnel who work hard to restore electricity and ensure public safety during and after storms. Thank you all.  Published by the Daily News of Newburyport.

Old MacDonald's actual farm

Old MacDonald really did have a farm. I know, I was there.

It wasn't the farm described in the children's song. There were no pigs or cows, but there was something much better-ponies. Lester MacDonald's farm was a ramshackle barn in Reading that looked like it might fall down at any moment. The paddocks, much of the year, were knee-deep in mud. There was no riding ring, no trainer, no helmets-and to me and a pack of other horse-crazy girls in the 1970s it was as close to heaven as we could get.

Mac was something from another era, an actual horse trader. He was a real-life Grandpa Beebe, the old horseman from Marguerite Henry's classic "Misty of Chincoteague," right down the suspenders and white stubble on his chin. His clothes hung on his skinny frame, and a cigarette hung from his mouth, even when he was pitching hay (safety wasn't a big concern at Mac's).

He was often yelling, at ponies or kids, or both at the same time. "C'mon, c'mon!" he would roar at some hapless ten-year-old. "This pony's not going to ride itself, y'know!" Mac charged a dollar an hour to rent a pony. He would tuck the money into a wallet fat with grubby singles and send riders off into the paddock. The ponies knew exactly what they could get away with, and things often ended up one of two ways-the pony would simply stand there, or take off to be with his buddies. Riders either fell off or hung on for dear life-sometimes a combination of both.

Mac had a couple of girls who were his chief helpers. Ann had a deep voice and an ability to organize the chaos. Her pony Ebony, tall and regal, was the herd leader. Second in command was spirited Lucy, whose pony Chiquita kept the other horses in line with equal fire.

And then there was U-Pay, the scrappy little black and white pinto that was Mac's favorite horse. U-Pay was slab-sided and whiskery and stubborn, just like Mac. He was Mac's go-to horse for birthday parties, where he would bad-temperedly trudge around someone's backyard or simply put his head down and graze, ignoring all pleas to move. Mac would sell anything to anybody, but he would never sell U-Pay. Mac would occasionally stop working and stand for a moment, one hand patting U-Pay, the other stroking Spot, his Dalmatian. Then he would be off again, shouting at someone to sweep the goldanged floor, for 'crissake.

When you bought something from Mac-a new bridle, say-you had to watch that he didn't take your old bridle as well as your money. But he often let kids who couldn't pay even a dollar ride his horses, blustering loudly to cover up his feelings. "Ann! Go saddle Snowflake before I send him to the glue factory! C'mon, move it!"

I rode at Mac's for several years, then moved to a different barn when I got a larger horse. A few years after that my mother and I heard he was ill and went over to visit him. Mac was sitting on his porch when we got there, bundled up even though the day was warm. "Can't work no more," he said glumly, his voice was low and raspy. "Can't do nothin' but sit." I remember thinking that I had never actually seen Mac sit before. He had always been in constant motion.

Mac passed away not long after we saw him. The barn and the house are still there, but part of a suburban subdivision. The paddocks are long gone, and there is a neighborhood where the ponies used to roam. But I'm glad I can still remember a time when a dollar-my allowance-- would buy me an hour in the saddle with Mac shouting at me to get that pony moving, dang it.

This article was originally published in the Daily News of Newburyport

Shooting Star

Making fun of Star Magazine is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Not that I would ever shoot fish in a barrel. I would never shoot a fish and would not know where to find a barrel of fish anyway. You know what I mean, though. It's nearly impossible to make fun of something that is a parody of itself, but I'm going to do it anyway. Unfortunately, this involves admitting that I read Star Magazine, but I guess it's best to get that out right now. I had to do hours of bathroom read-I mean research for this article, and I hope you all appreciate it.

My name is Marilyn Archibald, and not only am I a cat person, I read Star Magazine.

HI MARILYN!!!

Thank you. I feel accepted. I must stress that I do not actually buy Star. I have not yet stooped that low. It comes to my husband's office, free of charge and completely randomly. We can go for months without receiving one, other times we get what feel like minute-by-minute updates of the Kardashians as Stars overflow the mailbox.

And speaking of the Kardashians, we should probably address that pressing topic before we move on to anything else. It is hard to remember a time BK (Before Kardashian). If the Ks did not exist, Star (and by extension, the National Enquirer, US, OK, etc.) would have had to invent them. Like dinosaurs, with overdeveloped bodies and tiny brains, the Ks rule the planet and there's nothing we can do about it. Doesn't matter what they do. You mean like Khloe's ex-but now maybe not ex-husband Lamar possibly overdosing on Viagra after a three-day binge at a brothel, you ask? Well, yes. They are also reproducing like crazy, so there's no hope of a K-free future anytime soon. I give Caitlyn/Bruce Jenner huge props. Not only did she embrace what she tells us is her true self, she managed to out-Kardashian the Kardashians in her transformation. Good on her, I say.

So, Star Magazine. Well, right off the bat, they need better editorial oversight. "ELLEN AND CAITLYN-NASTY FEUD EXPLODES!" screams the cover headline on the September 28th issue. And, less than a month later (October 26) we get "KIM AND KATE-NASTY FEUD EXPLODES!" Well, which nasty feud should I get more upset about? I think I'll go with Kim and Kate. Who wouldn't feel sorry for poor Kim, who apparently only wants to be friends with Kate Middleton? "Kim and Kanye turned away from palace!" And worse--"Princess sends back baby gift!" But Kim has the last word: "North is cuter than George, anyway." That's telling her, Kim.

Okay, we need to move on from the Kardashians (see how hard that is? They insert themselves into everything. I'm pretty sure they were involved in the Iran nuclear deal. IRAN: "You must rid the world of this infidel pestilence known as the Kardashians." JOHN KERRY: "Sorry, we can make any concession you want, but that's off the table.") One of my favorite features is Normal or Not, where Star judges whether celebs are in or out of bounds with their behavior. I know, funny, right? Oh lord, there's Kim again! Keep moving (she's normal, in case you were wondering). Here's someone named Katharine McPhee (?) and boyfriend Elyes Gabel (??) at a tennis match, normal; Boy George (really?) carrying groceries, normal; and Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine cavorting on set in a motorized wheelchair, NOT NORMAL. Were the judges were drinking before making these decisions?

All right, moving on to Star Couples and NOO! SAY IT ISN'T SO! "Gisele & Tom: Couples Therapy." You are hitting way too close to home now, Star! Tom and Gisele, who are described as "genetically blessed," no argument there, are supposedly attending marriage counseling in a "last ditch effort" to save their marriage. Though Tom was reluctant to go, the therapist is supposedly siding with him. ""He's been getting some much needed vindication during this process," says an insider (quotes are always from an insider). Thank heavens for that, because Tom Brady is a homely recluse who everybody hates. It's not like thousands of people cheer for him at football games, wear shirts with his name on them, or name their dogs after him.

Calm down now. Tom and Gigi will be fine, I'm sure. How about something more neutral, like the ads? Most of the ads are what you'd expect-anti-aging serums and the like-but the Ashton Drake Galleries has a running ad in each issue featuring an "adult collectible" (take your mind out of the gutter please). Here we have Mrs. Beasley, from the very long-forgotten TV show "Family Affair," and even more terrifying, "Clementine needs a cuddle," a newborn baby monkey, complete with hair bow and pacifier, each only $99.99, payable in four installments. Sign me up.

Sadly, we haven't had a chance to discuss Hot Sheet, Star Fitness, and Celeb Crossword. About that last feature, all I can say is, good thing Kardashian has so many vowels in it.

This article was originally published in the Daily News of Newburyport, November 2015

Sewing, ironing and a circle of connection

When I was growing up, there were such things as sewing ladies. And even more amazing, ironing ladies. My mother had both, and it didn't seem odd to me. My own sewing machine is a dense, unused hunk of metal taking up space in the spare room, and the iron can't be found. I know, because we tried to locate it the other day. No luck. No iron. No problem.

But sewing and ironing were important things in the old days, at least for my mother. Her sewing lady was named Alice Murry and we spent a lot of time at her house. "We're going to Mrs. Murry's!" My mother would say, gathering up an armload of clothes. "I need something hemmed." Hemming was also a big concept back then (whatever happened to hemming? I haven't had anything hemmed in forever). But my mother was not tall, and had fairly short legs, so most things needed to be hemmed for her.

I liked going to Mrs. Murry's. I was fascinated by her house. I didn't know it at the time, but it was an American Foursquare, roomy and gracious, with high ceilings and big windows. Her sewing room was a little addition on the back with its own entrance. This room was amazing to me. There was so much to look at-spools of thread in a rainbow of colors, a myriad of buttons, sewing implements, fabric and patterns, all organized to within an inch of their lives. It could have been chaos, but instead it was an absolutely meticulous workspace.

Mrs. Murry herself was equally meticulous as a person. She seemed like a teacher to me; slender, grey hair in a tidy bun, always in a dress and shoes with kitten heels. She and my mother were very friendly, yet extremely formal with one another. They were "Mrs. Murry" and "Mrs. Davis," never Alice and Jeanne. I asked my mother once why this was, when they had known each other for so long. My mother looked bemused as she shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "It just seems-appropriate."

I didn't mind standing in front of the big three-paned mirror as Mrs. Murry folded and pinned my pants-I felt like I was onstage. But I always happy to be done, because then I was allowed to go into the parlor (are rooms called parlors anymore?) and look at the fish tank while Mrs. Murry tended to my mother's hemming needs. It wasn't an especially elaborate tank, but I loved it. It had live plants, growing up from the bottom and floating on the top of the water, and natural gravel, so that the fish-guppies, they were-seemed to live in a actual little world that was nothing like the garish aquarium displays at the pet store. Sometimes it was hard to find the fish, but that only made it seem more real. Snails added to the authenticity, and I would crouch in front of it, losing myself in the clear water and green plants and sparking silver fish.

After we left Mrs. Murry's we often went to the ironing lady's. Her name was Josephine, which we kids thought was hysterical. I remember her as a short stout woman with a warm smile. I don't believe I ever went inside her house. Unlike Mrs. Murray's pristine domicile, this was a scruffier abode, with lots of kids and dogs. We would ramble around outside, playing hide and seek while my mother dealt with the clothes, exchanging the wrinkled for the unwrinkled and talking with Josephine. My mother loved smooth, wrinkle-free clothing and she valued Josephine's services very highly, as she did Mrs. Murry's.

As she grew older, Josephine stopped taking in clothes to iron. Mrs. Murry too cut back on her work and one day she announced that her arthritis made it impossible for her to continue sewing. Sadly, my mother started taking her clothes to an anonymous drycleaners for tailoring. She enlisted ironing help from our longtime housecleaner Ruthie, who was like a member of the family. Watching Ruthie iron was mesmerizing; her rhythmic strokes transforming the clothes, the iron spitting and gurgling. My mother had arthritis herself by this time and she would sit and keep Ruthie company as she ironed, the two of them chatting about children and family matters.

This was all many years ago. My own relationship with ironing can best be described as complicated (one time my youngest child, at age five, picked up the iron and said "This is neat! What IS this?") As for sewing, my clothes generally come from the store ready to wear, or they don't come at all. But I will always treasure the memory of Mrs. Murry and Josephine and Ruthie and be grateful for all that they did for my mother. It was a circle of connection, friendship, and respect for work that enriched all of them.

This article was originally published in the Daily News of Newburyport

13. "Someone saved my life tonight" is my favorite Elton John song.

14. I used to be terrified of fire. When I was small a grill ignited the lawn in my backyard, and I was so frightened I threw up. I only got over this fear in eighth grade when I learned to light a match.

15. I smoked a cigarette one time at around age 8 when my mother let me try a puff of hers. I coughed for a good ten minutes and never touched cigarettes again.

16. Bread is my favorite food, but it has to be good bread.

17. I have a horror of rubber bands, just like my father did.

18. Yellow roses are my favorite cut flowers and remind me of my mother, because I bought them for her often.

19. I had my forehead split open by horse's hoof at age four when my father let go of the lead rein. I fell off and got hung up in a stirrup. My mother almost fainted when my father carried me into the house all bloody, and they rushed me to the hospital. I still remember my outrage that the doctor didn't put me to sleep before stitching me up. I still loved horses afterward, though.

20. "Annie Hall" used to be my favorite movie. Now it's "Jerry Maguire" tied with "Bull Durham."

21. The long-ago memory of my older daughter buying my son a small Lego kit to apologize for spinning him too much on a tire swing still makes me tear up.

22. I wrote a story called "Why I love my pet" about my pony Foxfire and it was published in the National Enquirer when I was in seventh grade. The paper sent out a photographer to take a picture of the two of us. It was my first piece of published writing.

19. I hate going to plays and always wish I could leave during intermission.

23. I love the sound of wind, especially at night.

24. I have a killer milk chocolate cake recipe that my mother handed down to me. I once sold it on Ebay under the name "Miracle Milk Chocolate Cake." I felt bad about doing that and since then have refused to share it with anybody, so you probably shouldn't ask.

25. And finally, I always know what time it is without looking at the clock, and I'm never late. It's not the superpower I asked for, but it's the superpower I have. 

This article was originally published in the Newburyport Daily News, July 2019

A sick dog, a second chance

The first hint I had that something was wrong with our dog Truman was in the afternoon on a Sunday in late January. I tossed him a dog treat and he didn't immediately jump up to grab it. He raised his head tiredly and after a moment got slowly to his feet. He ate the biscuit and lay back down with a deep sigh.  I didn't think too much of it. Truman was nearly 12 now, and had certainly slowed down. Increasingly he was refusing to go on the walks he used to love, getting halfway down the driveway and just stopping. He slept a lot. His hearing was going, and we could no longer count on him running to us at the sound of his name. When he was out in the yard he would look toward the house, using his eyes instead of his ears to know when to come inside.

He still looked good, with his beautiful blue merle coat, but he was no longer the active dog he had been for so many years. He came to us in 2006 from a unknown breeder in Montana when I decided I wanted an Australian Shepherd. I bought him after seeing a single adorable picture on the Internet.

TThat was a terrible idea but we got lucky. He was a gorgeous healthy ball of fluff with boundless energy and eyes that could and did stop traffic--one a melting brown, the other a deep icy blue. Walking him was like hanging out with a celebrity. People would stop us endlessly to admire him. He would sidle up to them like a cat, eventually ending up on his back, basking in the attention.

He had the strongest bond with our youngest, Tessa. They grew up together, running and jumping, playing until they were both exhausted. One of my favorite pictures shows a sleeping Tess stretched out on the couch and Truman laying next to her, his eyes closed but one big white paw stretched over her protectively.

And now he was older, slower, deafer. But nothing seemed radically wrong until dinnertime on that January Sunday, when I poured dog food into his dish and he didn't move or even raise his head.

"Trumie? Dinner! Truman?" No response, no movement. Had he somehow broken a leg or dislocated a hip? We got him to his feet and he staggered. Something was very wrong. Our own vet was closed but they directed us to the Bulger Veterinary Hospital in North Andover. We waited for some hours while the kind professionals at Bulger assessed him. When the doctor came out her face was grim. Truman was having severe heart arrhythmia and we needed to get him to the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital, a specialty facility, in Woburn as soon as possible.

We headed to Mass Vet at first light the next day and he was admitted immediately. When I cuddled him to say goodbye, tears running down my face, I wondered if this would be the last time I saw him alive-laying on a blanket, unable to raise his head, an IV already started in his leg.

Over the next 24 hours the amazing doctors and staff at Mass Vet stabilized Truman's heart and looked for the cause of the problem. X-rays didn't show any cancers, but did indicate clot damage to his heart. Blood work also showed evidence of anaplasmosis, a tick-borne infection, which may have pushed existing problems to a crisis point.

Truman came home with a bundle of medications, but he was a very different dog than the one who was near death only a couple of days before. He sidled up to me for petting in his usual way when I picked him up from Mass Vet. Two days after coming home he threw his favorite toy into the air a few times and pounced on it. He ate every meal, looked for snacks, and tried to get the cat to wrestle with 

We go back to Mass Vet soon for a recheck and are keeping our fingers crossed. The wonderful people who cared for Truman there and at Bulger can't make him young again, but maybe they have given us a few more years with himess saw Truman for the first time since his illness when she came home from college recently. That night I took another special picture. It shows the two of them in front of the fireplace, Tess smiling and Truman stretched out in front of her, utterly content. This picture tells another story too, as inevitable as time: that more than ever, it is our turn to protect the old dog at our feet and care for him as long and well as we can.

This article originally appeared in the Newburyport Daily News

I ate five ice creams so you don't have to

I ate five ice creams in one day, but dear readers, I did it for you.

"They" said it couldn't be done. "They" said two, maybe three ice creams in a single day was possible, but five? Never.  

Well, I don't know who "they" are, but "I" say, what is the point of being a grownup if occasionally you can't do what your childhood self always dreamed of? We work, we pay taxes, we go to the RMV, we get colonoscopies - can't we do something harmless but insane once in awhile? Yes, we can. And for me, that once in awhile occurred July 10.

Hodgies Too Ice Cream, Newburyport, 1:02 pm, 91 F.: Perennial Amesbury favorite Hodgies has recently upped its game and opened a stand behind Shaw's Plaza. Cone sizes range from ¼ kiddie (gigantic) to large (drywall bucket). I opt to start my quest off with a coffee ice cream soda, and Hodgies does this old school treat proud. Their coffee ice is delectably strong and rich, and they put plenty of syrup in the soda. The ice cream scoop straddles the side of the cup properly before toppling in, making for a fizzy trough of goodness. I eat about half of it and share the rest with my father-in-law, who resides in nearby Country Center. I call that a win-win. Grade: A+

Hair appointment, Shanti, Newburyport, 2-2:45 pm: There is no reason I can't look good while I am on the road to perdition.

White Farms, Ipswich, 3:09, 92 F: White Farms is "the cow place" and a favorite of mine for Oreo frappes, and that's what I opt for. This is a risky choice because it's seriously weighty (which is what I'm going to be if I keep this up). I have no regrets however-it's thick and sweet with a delicious chocolate grittiness because of the Oreos. Yum. Grade: A+. But things are getting intense, because my next stop is only moments down the road.

Down River Ice Cream, Essex, 3:40, 97 F (is that possible?): The only trouble with Down River Ice Cream is figuring out what to order. Every choice sounds incredible. I figure it's time to get healthy, so I go for a black raspberry cone and count it as a fruit. Oh my goodness. The gorgeous creamy purple color alone is mesmerizing, and the taste-well, you want to swim around in this ice cream and never get pulled out. And at 97 degrees, swimming is pretty much what I'm doing with it. I'm up to my elbows in black raspberry, but it feels so good. Grade: A+

Over the Annisquam River bridge onto Cape Ann and the temperature drops to 86 F. A terrifying thought seizes me--is it too cold for ice cream now? No, I reassure myself, it is not too cold for ice cream.

Rockport, 4:15-6:45 pm: I am prostrate on the couch for a while but I rally and eat a very light dinner before the final push. I'm on Everest and I'm heading for the South Col and the Hillary Step-I can almost see the peak, and there's no turning back now, even though we're running out of daylight.

Holy Cow, Gloucester, 7 pm, a downright frosty 76 F: The aptly named Holy Cow lies in the shadow of St. Ann's church, and eating their ice cream is nearly a religious experience. I am distraught to learn that they are out of maple bacon but I press on by choosing the equally exquisite crème brulee. The waffle cones are made on demand, and I receive my ice cream in a warm, crispy-chewy vessel of delicousness. I weep a little. Grade: A+

Long Beach Dairy Maid, Gloucester, 7:30 pm, 74 F: LB Dairy Maid is a hot mess of every ice cream choice under the sun and too many homemade signs, but locals wouldn't have it any other way. I get a root beer float and am surprised, at this point, that I can still enjoy the way the vanilla ice cream merges with the soda to create something delectable and almost crunchy. Grade: A+

At home I collapse and sleep the sleep of the righteously full, after promising myself I will eat nothing but salad the next day.

Cost: About 30 bucks or so, plus tips.

Calories: A lot. Let's talk about something else.

Experience: Priceless

But what, you ask, is with all the A pluses? Could everything be so good? Isn't that grade inflation? And I say to you, beloved readers, when it's 97 degrees out and I'm scoring ice cream, there is no such thing as grade inflation.

This article was originally published in the Newburyport Daily News and the Gloucester Times