By: Mary Fran Bontempo To hear an audio version of this post, click the play arrow below. Well, it's been almost a week now, and anyone who teaches at a Catholic grade school is surely feeling the pain. Lent began last Wednesday, with the ever-uplifting distribution of ashes, the ceremony whereby a priest smears black soot in the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the Catholic faithful while reminding us that [...]

By: Mary Fran Bontempo To hear an audio version of this post, click the play arrow below. Do you know that nightmare you have when you're walking on a seemingly stable floor and all of a sudden giant holes begin opening randomly beneath your feet waiting to swallow you whole? Welcome to driving in Philadelphia. Actually, it's not only Philadelphia, it's anywhere in the Northeast, or, more likely, anywhere there was snow this [...]

By: Mary Fran Bontempo To hear an audio version of this post, click the play arrow below. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"] Yes, these are my necklaces. But not all of them.... It was all about the earrings. Given that I'm about as skilled athletically as a one-year-old learning to walk (read: not [...]