By: Mary Fran Bontempo To hear an audio version of this post, click the play arrow below. I don’t know about you, but I’m already exhausted. The last remnants of the Thanksgiving extravaganza are still finding their way back into cabinets, drawers and the giant closet in the basement where I throw everything I can’t fit anywhere else, and the pressure to create the Christmas spectacular has begun. It’s still November and my [...]

By: Mary Fran BontempoTo hear an audio version of this post, click the play arrow below. “Mom! Give me the saw and get out of the tree!”A few days before the devastation that arrived in the form of hurricane Sandy, I decided to clean up the yard in preparation for the storm. We’ve had our share of storm-related messes before, so cleaning gutters and clearing out some dead wood from old, very large [...]

By: Mary Fran Bontempo To hear an audio version of this post, click the play arrow below.  There was nothing funny about Sandy.The mega-storm that pounded its way through the Northeast last week sucker punched everyone and everything in her path. Entire towns along coastlines were devastated, as streets became beaches and boats found new homes in back yards blocks away from the ocean and bays. Combining elements like a tropical storm with [...]