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Oh That Fudge

Thanksgiving 2023 is in the rear view mirror. So now the rush is on for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa observances and all the frantic shopping and plans that go along with the preparations. As I look back on my own childhood, I can’t understand how my parents got us through those days leading up to Christmas. Kids didn’t need any sugary treats to get wound up. All it took was the Sears and Penney’s catalogs to show up in the mailbox. We called them dream books since that was mostly what we did as we dog-eared the pages for Santa. Advent was a time of many plans and happenings ...

How Soon We Forget

Last Saturday dawned partly sunny with frozen fog. At least that’s what it looked like as I made my way along W.Va. 88 through Oglebay Park to my destination in South Wheeling. The date was Nov. 11, Veterans Day. As an invited guest to the annual P.A.P. Club’s Veterans Day breakfast, I ...

Jewish Roots Run Deep Here

Like many teens of my youth, part-time after-school jobs were an essential and expected part of our upbringing. From the time I was old enough to “work,” I held various jobs that began with neighborhood babysitting jobs. Then in junior high, many of us worked at Oglebay or Wheeling parks doing odd jobs from checking clothes baskets at the swimming pools to cleaning cages at the outdoor nature areas at Oglebay. My brothers spent time tending the snakes in the snake pit at the park. They even brought some of the big snakes home over the winter months much to the angst of their ...

Of Whom Should We Be Afraid?

One of my greatest joys as a kid was swinging on the swing set in our backyard. It was the old metal type that was sunk in the ground to prevent tip overs. From as far back as I can remember I would pump my legs until I was swinging as high as possible — with no fear. The same goes for climbing to the top of the monkey bars and hanging upside down by my knees. Or when I rode my bicycle down Hogan’s Hill at the speed of light. Again no fear. If our parents only knew how many times I and other neighborhood kids entered the Peterson Hospital construction site as it was being built ...

Hungry For More

Over these many years that I have been writing this column, I’m still amazed at what topics garner the most responses from readers. Maybe it shouldn’t surprise me. After all, we all have to eat. Yes, it’s food. Whether it was a story about what people were cooking and baking while stuck at home during the pandemic or the most recent column on popular places to dine in Wheeling from previous decades, I received comments from far and wide. Perhaps it’s because we are a food-rich country. We have more than we need but not everyone has the means to obtain proper nourishment. The ...

What’s For Dinner?

Slow down! I’ve often been told this but not for the reason you may think. When well-meaning family members tell me to slow down, they are talking about my eating habits, not my driving. Admittedly I do eat faster than most people. It’s not a great habit, but when you grew up at a crowded dinner table of 10 or so people, you learned to eat quickly or lose out, especially to my seven brothers. They could polish off a loaf of bread at one sitting, not to mention two huge meatloaves and fixings. I eat to live, not live to eat like some folks who savor each and every bite of food. ...