Cumberland Times-News

Maude McDaniel - Living

Maude McDaniel - Living
  • The signs of old age never seem to stop

    Well, I’ve satisfied your intense curiosity about chopsticks, and playing cards, and such, which means I can get back to my favorite topic these days — how to know when you’re getting old.

    March 24, 2012

  • A sense of humor makes life easier

    This may not be a secret — but I love laughing.
    As far as I am concerned, a sense of humor transforms life from something that has to be gotten through grudgingly, just because you happened to be born and have no other choice, into an opportunity for joy, if only for a moment here and there.

    March 10, 2012

  • You’ve heard it before, but things are worse

    Hey, I’ve been pretty good-natured lately, and it’s a strain on me. Considering my age (very old) and the state of the world (very bad), you must be amazed at my self-control in the last few months. I don’t remember saying anything good about the music or the electronics or the morals of our culture in recent columns — but I have carefully tried not to bash them. Well, not too much.

    February 25, 2012

  • History of chopsticks and related subjects

    Now there are some big questions in life, like where did we come from, and even bigger questions in life, like where are we going? Today, however, I prefer to talk about chopsticks.

    February 11, 2012

  • Wondering? Here’s how cards began

    Just in the last few years, I have become quite the cardplayer .My father would be amazed, because he would not allow me or my brothers to play cards (with the regular cardfaces) when we were growing up. We were, however, allowed to play other games that had cards of their own, like Touring and Flinch.

    January 28, 2012

  • By now, we should know all the answers

    Here I had expected that, by the time I reached this advanced age, I would know all the answers there were to know, or maybe even more. But apparently it was not to be, for, lo and behold, I seem to have still more questions lining up, like all those thousands of blackbirds on the lines in front of the M&T Bank on Industrial Boulevard.

    January 14, 2012

  • Here are a few laughs to start the new year

    Nothing’s better to start out a new year with than jokes! Even if they are other people’s jokes. And some of these are not so much laugh out loud, as just wry observations on the world. But then that’s what the best humor is often about!

    January 1, 2012

  • Many happy holiday returns — or remains

    There are a lot of things in this world one wouldn’t mind living over again. You know, the standard stuff, the day you got your absolute favorite Christmas gift.

    December 17, 2011

  • Hobbies are often other people’s ideas

     

    Sometimes collections just happen.
    Those are the ones that owe their existence to the kindness of others.

    December 3, 2011

  • An admiring ode to the wonders of dirt

    Let us all praise — dirt.Yes, that’s what I said, dirt.
    The most common stuff in the world, right?
    What we wash off ourselves, morning and night. Over and over again. What whole companies make huge profits getting rid of.
    I want you to praise dirt?

    November 19, 2011