Mrs. Teabody Greets the Day

Bee's Knees, Mango Twister, Vodka Cobbler Busy schedules and varied pursuits often find even the best of friends scrambling to spend quality time together so it's no surprise that a once-a-year outing for a trio of loosely-knit friends – all food-fondies -- ended up in a new-for-us restaurant. Tuesday evening took us to Family Meal, an odd and misleading appendage for a very trendy joint. Want to find it? Drive to Hagerstown's Valley Mall on Halfway Boulevard and hang a right on the circuit road—the one toward Macy's and the theatres. As soon as you see Toys-R-Us, heads up, and there it is tucked away in a corner-- all low slung and brandy new with ample parking. It's cool inside, clean and minamalist and we were quickly led to a booth, food-menued and bar-menued by a peppy youngster and no sooner were small squatty water glasses in place than our attractive and friendly “Ali Layne” dropped by. “Give us two minutes and we'll order drinks,” we said perusing t...

A detail from Robert Thom's painting depicting Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” in the 1932 World Series, is part of the Hall of Fame’s collection of artwork. B-325.76A (National Baseball Hall of Fame) Good Morning from Chez Teabody where  all the Sunday morning chores have been  attended to prior to breakfast at 8 at the Teabodys' favorite local breakfast club, FOVA/VFW.  The VFW donates  thousands of dollars every single month to worthwhile projects affecting folks who live here in Fulton County. They do awesome work. The employees who work there are just terrific and treat us like family. The food is wonderful. On our way to breakfast, we soaked up all the glory that is the brand new, huge-and-not-a-penny-spared-anywhere Dollar Store. This project has been a clinic of sorts for any would-be, "dream large" entrepreneur. It's not enough to properly lay a foundation, to erect a massive building with admirable speed and precision, to establish attractive boundarie...

Every August  there comes a moment that lets us know that summer has entered its final phase and it's time to do everything we have back-burnered quickly before it's too late: wear that sundress, eat that fresh tomato, plan lunch with working friends before school starts, see the ocean and get some sand between our toes. Even though this will be the SIXTH August I haven't had to deal with the queasy gut that comes with the start of a new school year, there will probably never come an August that I don't recall a phone call out of the blue in August 1976 that changed my life forever. I was living solo in a tiny apartment in Carlisle -- working one full-time job and two part-time jobs, loving life and having a good time. It was the Bicentennial of 'merica and a year that  had its share of ups and downs just like this year is having forty years later. Stick with me and I'll show you EXACTLY how much August 1976 and August 2016 have in common. In 1976 the Tall ...