In 1955 when researchers counted the punctuation in period texts they found a change in our way of communicating. They discovered there had been a surprising drop in semicolon usage between the 18th and 19th centuries. The drop from 68.1 semicolons per one thousand words to 17.7 was attributed to technology. What was the new technology in the 1850’s? It was the telegraph - or what science writer Tom Standage called the “Victorian internet”. The first telegraph that could successfully send messages across wires with electricity was made by Samuel Morse in 1837.

Everyone has an opinion about cooking. Robert Frost said, “There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won’t and that’s a wife who can’t cook and will”. Buddy Hackett said, “My mother’s menu consisted of two things: take it or leave it” and Phyllis Diller said her meals were so bad her kids thought Thanksgiving was meant to commemorate Pearl Harbor Day. Then there’s Thomas Wolfe. He said, “There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves”.

Although superstitions are passed down from generation to generation, I started a new one. I told my family that bay leaves are lucky. As soon as I said that, my sons stopped complaining about finding one in their soup.

Knocking on wood is meant to be good luck because benevolent spirits were thought to live in trees and thus knocking on anything made of wood is meant to protect you from misfortune. Crossing your fingers is meant to be good luck because you make the sign of the cross and thus prevent evil spirits from harming you.

The bond between a grandfather and his grandchildren is often unlike any other relationship. Here are ten ideas for helping your kids celebrate and honor Grandpa this Father’s Day.

1. Ask each of the grandkids to draw a picture of themselves enjoying time with Grandpa and to include a note letting him know how they feel about him. This can be an annual tradition, and you can showcase the letters and drawings in a special keepsake album.

2. Write a letter to your father or father-in-law to let him know how you feel about him and about his role as grandfather.

There are lots of things I could do without - like more people moving to Southern California. Judging by the freeways, there are too many people now. There are too many mathematicians. Those are the drivers who take the shortest route between two points - which includes crossing from the far lane and cutting in front of me to get to an exit. The absent-minded professors are drivers who forget to use their directional signals when they change lanes, causing me to jam on my brakes to avoid hitting their - class. Then there are the old boyfriend drivers. They follow too closely, refusing to be a passing fancy.

Secretary, knitting instructor, social worker, writer - I’ve enjoyed my work. I’ve also enjoyed other peoples’ work - like hairdressers. When I’m in a salon, I enjoy watching hairdressers change the look of their clients. Usually people with straight hair want curly hair and those with curly hair want straight hair; but with all the products on the market today, we can have the look we want. Rinses and dyes, perms and straighteners, extensions and implants - I’m continually amazed by how many unnatural ways there are to look natural.

Jobs come in all shapes and sizes.

A mother’s work is never done. In fact, a study done by Ohio State University showed that married women with children feel more than twice as rushed in their daily lives than single women do. Their husbands, however, didn’t feel more rushed than their single counterparts. Is there something wrong with that or am I rushing - to judgment?

Every mother tells her children that honesty is the best policy and not to lie; and that’s what one rushed friend of mine told her five-year-old son. When she took her son to mass, he watched the priest hold up the cubes of bread and say it was the body of Christ.