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Spring equinox: a time to celebrate light and rebirth

This week we observed one of the most under-rated occasions of the year. We celebrated the spring equinox, one of two points of the year when we have nearly 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. It’s also the official dividing line between winter and spring. I like the spring equinox. It’s a time when warm, bright days are right around the corner. We can start to think about things like cleaning out the garage and planting a garden. It’s counterpart is the fall equinox that divides summer from fall. The shortest day of the year in December is the winter solstice. The ...

Tardy thank-you notes

Dear Annie: My daughter received some lovely gifts for her quinceanera (an important milestone in Mexican and Latin American cultures that celebrates a girl’s 15th birthday). Unfortunately, there were a few without cards or tags. I am not sure if the card became accidentally separated from the gift, or if there was no card or tag in the first place. My daughter is writing thank you cards to everyone who helped put this event together or gave her a gift. I hate to think about just a few people going unthanked -- but we don’t know who gave the gifts. Any ideas other than asking those ...

Travel politely

Dear Heloise: My husband and I recently returned from a lovely trip to Europe. For the most part, it was enjoyable, except for a couple of embarrassing moments that were not caused by fellow Americans. We were in Germany when a man from the United States started yelling and insulting the young man stamping our passports. He brought up World War II and made all sorts of ugly accusations. Finally, his wife grabbed his arm and told him to be nice. The airport security was called, and things just went downhill from there. As an American, I was appalled by the man’s behavior while he ...

Husband’s hypochondria getting out of hand

Dear Annie: My husband is a hypochondriac. It is so very hard living with him. Every time he hears of someone in our family coming down with an illness, he claims he has it. He is a healthy man and perfectly able-bodied. I get disgusted when he takes a handicapped spot next to a store when I know he doesn’t need it. During the height of the pandemic, he was in hysterics all the time. I cannot tell you how many hours I spent trying to pacify him, looking for things that were no longer available, like a thermometer. Because he swore the many thermometers we had at home were not ...

Reader writes in with three hints

Dear Heloise: First, I loved your hint about chocolate bloom! I was working at a Veterans Affairs building that day and took the paper with me. I was there all day in the reception area and had the paper folded, so your heading was at the top. Everybody kept asking, “What is chocolate bloom?” It was a wonderful conversation-starter that made my day run smoothly, so I wanted to personally thank you! Next, I have three great hints from the mother of a rambunctious autistic adolescent with developmental disabilities: 1. How to safely remove a lightbulb that has broken while it’s ...

Weather prognostications

Farmers have a large number of sayings that are used to foretell the weather and other unpredictable phenomena such as their spouses. One aphorism that springs to mind is “Early Easter, early spring.” That maxim seems to be holding up this year. Clouds of snow geese were seen honking their way northward over our farm in the last week of February and I spotted my first robin during the first days of March. This can only be bad news for the robins, because another farmer proverb goes, “There has to be three snows on the robin’s back before it can be spring.” We are overdue ...