Dinner for 23—Part 1

It’s my mother’s 81st birthday, and I’ve been elected to host a dinner for 23 family members at my house. Years ago, if presented with this goal, I would be totally freaking out by the day of the event. I …

In Memory of My Dad, Bob Rodale

Sunday, September 20 was the 19th anniversary of my father’s death. He was killed when he was only 60 years old, in a car accident in Russia. In retrospect, almost 20 years later, the situation seems ridiculous. Russia was still …

The Summer That Never Was…

My 12-year-old daughter keeps begging me to go back-to-school shopping, and I tell her she may not ask again for at least two weeks…but then that’s only a week before school starts. ARRRRGGGHHHHH! I feel like summer never even started! …

Top 10 Tips for Sober Entertaining

I haven’t had an alcoholic drink in 10 years, and I don’t miss it one bit (except maybe once in a while, after a hard day in the office). But it does make entertaining different, and slightly challenging. You don’t …

What Family Values? The Real Reason America is Falling Behind the Rest of the World

I stumbled across a frightening little list this morning. It’s a list of the only four countries in the world that don’t offer guaranteed paid maternity leave for mothers (based on a Harvard/McGill University study of 173 countries). You might …

Put Your Kids to Work. They’ll Be Glad You Did

I recently read a sweet little book called Growing Up Country, by Carol Bodensteiner. She describes her childhood growing up on a dairy farm in Iowa. What struck me most about her account is how much she enjoyed being challenged …

Top 10 Things I Want For Mother’s Day

This time of year feels so busy, so rushed, so filled with everything happening at once, both indoors and out, at home, school, work and play. Thank goodness for Mother’s Day right in the middle of it all. I might …