KATHRYN R. BIEL: AUTHOR

A few months ago, there was an article in Good Housekeeping about happiness.  Ok, there is always an article about happiness, and I rarely read them.  Sometimes, they are just touchy-feely crap and that annoys me.  Sometimes they talk about writing happiness journals.  You see the frequency that I'm on here to blog.  Do you think I really have time for that?  Anyway, I read the opening paragraphs, and it talked about choosing to be a bluebird of happiness or a pigeon of discontent.  I didn't go much further, but liked those expressions. I want to be a bluebird, but know that I'm genetically programmed to be a pigeon. But I want to change.  Since July of last year, our family has lost several significant members.  It's been rough, to say the least.  There was the dear family friend, who, to this day, I still call "Uncle."  He and his family were so critically interwoven with my childhood that to remove them would undo the whole f...

So, here in the great Capital District, we have two main grocery stores, Price Chopper and Hannaford.  Most people I know are loyal to one or the other.  There is not a lot of cross mingling.  Price Chopper is truly a local company, run by the Golub Corp out of Rotterdam/Schenectady.  It has been around forever.  PC has outlasted Grand Union, Shop Rite, A&P, Edwards, just to name a few.  My mom was never a PC shopper.  We were Grand Union all the way. So, now that, somehow, I'm a "responsible" adult, I spend a lot of time in the supermarket.  And a lot of my money.  I feel obligated to get the best stuff for the best price.  I have looked around, and Hannaford (or the Big H, as I like to call it), really does have the best overall prices.  They do not have a loyalty card.  Everyone gets the sale prices.  I like that, no discrimination.  Price Chopper runs fantastic sales, so you can get some really good deals. ...

Dear Jake, I am anxiously awaiting your return from your first sleep-away camp.  You have been at Camp Boyhaven for three days and two nights.  You're with Dad, so I know that, theoretically, you're in good hands.  I'm gonna make a confession to you...in my mind, no one will ever care for you as well as I do, so it makes me worry when you're with someone else.  Luckily, Dad finally started checking in a little, even though he needed a message passed from me to Mrs. Vagianelis to Mr. Vagianelis to Dad to know that I wanted to hear from you guys. The house has not been the same without you in it.  The first night you were gone, Sophia got up during the night to go the bathroom.  I heard the door first, and that is what woke me up.  My immediate thought was that it was you getting up.  When I realized that it had to be Sophia because you weren't here, it made me sad.  The cats have been playing in your room.  I had to prop the door open...