Costa Rica offers lessons in living

February 12, 2023

If you’ve been to Costa Rica, you know they have a particular national slogan. The two words are everywhere — on menus, on signs, on the lips of nearly everyone you meet. Costa Ricans use the phrase constantly, to mean anything from “thank you,” to “hello,” to “no worries,” to “you’re welcome,” to “goodbye” at the end of a phone call — or one of those ubiquitous WhatsApp voice messages they love to send. The words grace T-shirts and tank tops and hand-painted doodads of all sizes, shapes and purpose — perhaps to remind shopping tourists what it ...

Dogs make out like bandits this Christmas

December 18, 2022

As the rest of the world — the holiday-celebrating portion of it, anyway — busily works to scratch names and tasks off their lists, I’m winding down from one of my fondest Christmases in memory. While it was early, it was wonderful, full of family and thoughtful presents and (far too many) fresh, hot doughnuts. But as delightful as it was for the humans, the real winners this year were my dogs. Because not only did they make out like bandits — albeit adorable, furry ones — they’ve also managed to appropriate a good many of my gifts along with their ...

Recent romantic weekend away has surprising results

November 13, 2022

Last weekend I uttered three little words to Chad that I never thought I’d say to  a man. Or to anyone, honestly. We had just wrapped up our second day hiking with the dogs during our pets-included stay at Cacapon Resort State Park. The first afternoon and evening were spent exploring  the trails around the lodge, and the next checking out the historic town of Harpers Ferry. Given Moo’s attitude  around other animals, our excursion wasn’t exactly stress-free — every other dog owner in the universe seemed to have similar plans  — but it was an ...

Life with mice much different than I imagined

October 16, 2022

When I was a kid, I didn’t have a dollhouse. I had a mouse house. The concept was the same — a tiny replica of a home, filled with itty bitty furniture, occupied by a miniature family. But instead of little humans, the inhabitants of my model were murine. Good behavior on my part was often rewarded with a trip my favorite gift shop, called Patches, where I would pick out a new resident. The mice were made with real fur (a troublesome fact that did not register with me as a child) and clothed in cute costumes. My eclectic rodent commune boasted a painter, a ...

When your week away turns into ‘Freaky Friday’

October 9, 2022

As a woman, I always knew turning into my mother was inevitable. What I didn’t realize was that within 48 hours of occupying their house, Chad and I wouldco-morph into my parents as a whole. We had gone to Lewisburg so he could attend a falconry lesson at the Greenbrier and we could both get some time away in the process. My parents were heading to their vacation spot,so we had the place to ourselves. The transformation began almost immediately. “I’m chilly,” I said on our first full day there, turning on the gas fireplace and warming my hands by the instant ...

Who’s the real charmer here? Him, or my dogs?

September 25, 2022

Remember that Jack Nicholson-Helen Hunt-Greg Kinnear movie, where Jack plays an unhappy, obsessive-compulsive recluse whose whole existence is turned around by the love of a good woman and, more importantly, a cute dog? It keeps popping into my head as I watch Chad during this week away with my pups. For the record, he is not an unhappy, obsessive-compulsive recluse (though he is very neat and he does shower a lot). But like Nicholson in the film, he’s never really been a big dog person. I mean, he likes them — he’s not a psychopath, either — and he’ll pet one if ...