It started out as a fun Saturday evening. My husband and I met friends of ours for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Our friends had never been to this particular restaurant and so they enjoyed being with us and exploring a new place.    

The Box is coming.  It comes every year the same day, January 29th, Eve's birthday. It started about 15 years ago when a friend of hers got her a small birthday gift, like a box of cookies. When his birthday arrived in May, Eve put new gift wrap on the same box with the cookies and gave it back to him. The following January, he added a small present to the box, put on new gift wrap, and back it went to Eve.  

It came up in a discussion. What are the seven wonders of the world? There are many lists and arguments to be had. First, there's the ancient wonders:   The Great Pyramid of Egypt The Hanging Gardens of Babylon The Statue of Zeus at Olympia The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus The Colossus of Rhodes The Lighthouse of Alexandria Then the seven wonders of the modern world:

Elvis would have been 81 today. I wrote my best poem, The King, about Elvis.  I adored the early Elvis as he came up in synch with my teenage hormonal awakening.  Then he had to go into the Army.

It was several years ago. We had a few days left in Italy before our return flight to New York when we got a phone call from the airline that an airport strike was planned for noon the next day and we could catch an early flight to Paris. That would leave us with the whole day in Paris before our evening flight back to New York. We had it all planned. We wouldn't waste the day at the airport. We'd check our luggage and spend the day in Paris and visit the neighborhood where we had stayed on a previous trip.

From the Huffington Post, 10 Ways To Have a Spritually Refreshing New Year Couldn't have made a better list myself. 1. Choose a word of the year.

I believe in New Year’s resolutions and there are always themes. For example, losing that 10 pounds is always right up there on my list. So is putting my technology away when it should be away. OK, so maybe I am not always successful in keeping my resolutions.

  There are certain days of the year that I feel re-energized. Almost as if it’s time to start again. The day after Labor Day is one of those times. After slowing down a bit over the summer, the Tuesday after Labor Day