This Stop Willoughby

Mr. Willoughby and I had an opportunity to do some wandering on Wednesday afternoon while the kids were in school. We started out by heading to the nearby town of Romeo. There are some great stores, cafes and restaurants in the older, quaint downtown area.  There is a newer section of town with chain stores and fast food restaurants a few miles up the road, but we didn't go there. You may not have heard of Romeo, but I'll bet you've heard of one it's more famous citizens, Bob Richie. No? Maybe you know him by his stage name, Kid Rock. I'll bet you thought he was from Detroit. Nope, he's a country boy from this charming little town.  Courtesy Google Images We didn't see Bob, I mean Kid Rock, while we were wandering and window shopping, but I did snap some pictures of some other sights.  The red brick of the church against the brilliant blue sky is striking, isn't it?  I'm not sure if this is still a hardware store, but I love the old sig...

It's no secret that fall is not my favorite season, but from time to time I do find something to make it a little more appealing to me.  The activity of choice for this past weekend was a trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch.  I thought we would all enjoy the hayride through the orchard and have fun picking a bushel of apples.  If the pumpkins were nice, we might pick a few of them, too.  Afterward we could each get a hot donut (or doughnut, if you prefer) and a glass of freshly pressed cider. We haven't been apple picking in years, so I wasn't sure where we should go.  We live on the outskirts of an area literally bursting with apple orchards which means there are quite a few to choose from.  They all have Halloween related attractions right now and I thought wandering our way through a corn maze sounded like fun, so I set out to find an orchard that had one. Google seemed like the best place to start, so I searched for you-p...

The curious behavior I mentioned in my last post was not gender specific, but I do think the behavioral differences between men and women are pretty interesting.  Let's examine the following scenarios, shall we?  Scenario Number 1 - You and your spouse are at a party and you're sitting at a table with several couples you've just met.  Someone mentions children and the topic of conversation turns to labor and delivery.  Most women will: a) sit and listen quietly because they don't want to share such intimate details with perfect strangers b)  give a detailed account of every second of their childbirth experience in verbal technicolor Most men will: a) contribute to the conversation b) jump up and run away from the table as if their pants were on fire Scenario Number Two - You and you're spouse see a classic 1967 Mustang Fastback. Most women will: a) know the make, model and year of the car b) comment on what a pretty colo...

We're a strange lot, aren't we?  Human beings, I mean.  Why do we do some of the things that we do?  We feel the need to share unpleasant smells.  Let's say I'm making chicken for dinner.  If I open the package and it smells bad, you can be pretty sure I'm going to ask my husband for his opinion.  "Honey, the chicken smells rancid, can you come here and give it a whiff?"  I have no idea why I do that, I have a perfectly reliable sense of smell.  But I'll bet you do it, too. We feel the need to share unpleasant foods/drinks.  Let's say I've poured myself a glass of milk.  If I take a drink and it tastes bad, you can be pretty sure I'm going to ask my husband to try it, too.  "Honey, I think the milk is spoiled.  Here, take a drink and tell me if it tastes funny to you."  I have no idea why I do that, but I'll bet you do it, too. We confirm that something hurts, repeatedly.  Let's say I wake up with a st...

Purple is my favorite color, is it yours?  Maybe you prefer blue or yellow or orange.  I can understand why you might like most colors, but, I will admit, there is a particular shade of green that I'm not fond of.  If it happens to be your favorite color, we can agree to disagree and talk about something else.  I think we can still be friends even if we don't agree on which color is best, don't you? Favorite color is a fairly superficial topic of conversation, but the point is, you're entitled to your opinion.  I don't think anyone should ridicule you or think less of you because they don't agree with your choice.  It's a matter of tolerance, something that we seem to be sorely lacking, of late. I read something over the weekend that made me incredibly angry and incredibly sad.  According to this article , there have been four teenage suicides at an Ohio high school, all of which were directly or indirectly the result ...

This summer, we made some new friends.  Their company was pleasant, so we extended an open invitation for them to stop by anytime.  We looked forward to their visits and didn't mind when it became a daily ritual.  They always seemed to show up hungry, so we made sure to keep plenty of their favorite foods in the house.  We wanted to be good hosts. For a while, it was a harmonious relationship and we were all benefiting from it in one way or another.  Still, though, by the end of summer I was beginning to think that they didn't really respect us.  I wasn't initially put off by their sloppiness, but at some point it became an issue.  Wherever they went, a mess seemed to follow.  They never made any effort to pick up after themselves. They have never invited us to their home and they never bring anything to share when they come to ours.  It's become obvious that ...

My son wants to pierce some portion of his face/ears.  One day he wants a pierced ear, another day he'll talk about piercing his nose or his lip.  He hasn't wanted to pierce his eyebrow......yet.  I've said no to all requests.  Not because I have anything against piercings (I don't), but because, well, he's my son and I don't want any unnecessary holes in him.  I've spent the last 17 years trying to keep him in one piece. Here's how I rationalized it.  I told him that women wear makeup and jewelry to adorn their faces.  Men don't need these things, I said, because they have facial hair and can change their look by growing and or shaving beards, sideburns and mustaches (as illustrated by Vincent D'Onofrio, below).  Photos courtesy of Google Images My son wearing facial jewelry, therefore, would be the same as his sister wearing a fake beard or mustache.  He didn't buy it.  Not for a second.  But he did wa...