Love as a Way of Being – Thoughts on Valentine’s Day

Back in 1847, Boston pharmacist Oliver Chase invented a machine that made apothecary lozenges. He sold these lozenges for sore throat relief. But the same machine could just as easily stamp out small pieces of candy. Candy made with Chase’s machine turned out to be such a success that he eventually gave up on making medicinal lozenges and founded the New England Confectionary Company or NECCO. During the 1860s, ...

SEEING THE LIGHT WITH UNVEILED FACES

Lenticular printing. It’s also called a “flicker picture” or a “wiggle picture.” I saw it recently on a cookie box in the grocery store. The back of the box was imprinted with an image of a cookie that changed shape and color when you looked at the box from a different angle of vision. It reminded me of those flicker pictures that were on novelty items when I was a child. Snow White is ...

OF GROUNDHOGS AND SAINTS

This Friday an annual ritual will unfold in northwest Pennsylvania. Crowds will assemble in the Punxsutawney to consult a large rodent who will determine if we will have six more weeks of winter or can anticipate an early spring. A member of the marmot family, “Punxsutawney Phil” is what most of us call a groundhog. Some people call it a woodchuck or even a groundpig. It’s all a bit of mid-winter fun on February 2.

But ...