Monthly Archives: August 2012

The early bird, it has been said, gets the worm.  Basically, success comes to those who prepare and put forth the effort to succeed.  Starting Monday morning, the early bird better be on the corner of the street waiting for her school bus because this school year, my oldest will be going to 5^th grade.  5^th grade means going to a new school, the intermediate building.  In our district it’s like an estuary of our elementary schools.  They all lead in to the intermediate building in a sea of pre-pubescence, peer pressure, and grades 5 and 6.

Every start of a school year leading to this one, we have gone through the same routine.  My wife and I plan as if we’re preparing to invade Normandy.  My kids try their best to delay the inevitable buzz of the alarm clock the day before and all of our plans for a smooth first morning disappear in a cloud of chaotic smoke, crying, and a mass gathering at the bus stop. It is a routine we are all too familiar with. Yet, this year is going to different.  My oldest daughter’s entry through the doorways of Intermediate learning means for us, a whole new routine.

It’s been said, absence makes the heart grow fonder. In the beginning of my marriage, my wife and I thought absence was when one of us took a shower.  We spent most waking moments together.  We held hands, we snuggled, and we watched the same television shows. She thought my jokes were funny and I didn’t mind her cooking.

By year 2, we both realized our love for one another had nothing to do with our proximity to each other or how much time we spent together (my wife also realized I’m not as funny as I think I am and I realized she really wasn’t that good of a cook).

So we both began doing things on our own (a day trip, hang out with friends, golfing…we weren’t going on European hiking excursions alone).  It would be hard for my heart to grow fonder of my wife but the times we did things on our own made us both realize how much we truly loved being together when we returned.  What we also realized, for the sake and health of our marriage, it was not only good, but necessary, to get the hell away from each other from time to time.

But finding time to be absent can be hard when you’re married, not to mention married and with kids (like walking on a wire across two skyscrapers while blindfolded and lit on fire hard).  You have to take your time when you can. It is cathartic whether it’s for an hour or two, or a trip to the drug store, or if you’re lucky enough to have a wife who planned a mid-week weekend at the beach with her best friend.

My wife and her best friend Becky are going to Ocean City, NJ from Tuesday until Friday.  My wife is taking our girls and Becky is taking her girls.  One last getaway before school starts and some old fashioned BFF bonding.  I know the kids are looking forward to going away because they haven’t slept for the past week.  I’m fairly sure my wife is excited to get away too (she’s been packing for the past week).  It will be a good opportunity for her heart to stock up on some fondness.

Ann Fulton, already known to many local foodies as the force behind the Fountain Avenue Kitchen blog, has begun a biweekly column on the Sunday News Food page.

Food blogger Ann Fulton loves to use fresh, seasonal ingredients that can go straight from the garden to the table. (Photo: Jeremy Hess)

In many ways, Fulton embodies each of the Alive section’s four F’s: family, food, fitness and fun, and we at the Sunday News hope you’ll have as much fun getting to know her as we have.

To that end, we’ve asked Fulton some questions about her culinary pursuits, and here’s what she had to say.

What’s your personality in the kitchen?

The kitchen is such a creative, productive place for me, so I am generally always happy to be there. (My kids’ answers to this question were “happy and a little klutzy” and “always laughing at her own jokes.”)

What’s your favorite kitchen implement?

My grandmother’s wooden spoons and cast-iron skillet because they are so functional and remind me of her. I love my kitchen scale, too, because it makes measuring ingredients so easy.

On a sunny summer afternoon, some 90 youngsters were gathered at Amos Herr Park in Landisville, taking part in a Penn Legacy soccer club program.

Three- and 4-year-olds raise their hands to answer questions during a Penn Legacy summer soccer practice at Amos Herr Park in Landisville. (Sunday News photo/Michael Long)

As the children practiced soccer skills, parents retreated to camp chairs and the shade of one leafy tree; the scene was the very picture of middle-class ease.

But the folks running the soccer club aren’t aiming for exclusivity.

They’re now opening the Penn Legacy Academy, a skill development program for children ages 3 to 8, on a pay-what-you-can basis. And if what a parent can afford to pay is nothing, that’s fine.

Their stated goal — and they hope it’s going to be a winning one — is to give every child the opportunity “to play the beautiful game.”