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J.P. Devine
  • Published
    July 28, 2012

    J.P. Devine: The basement, don’t go down there

    Free advice to newly married couples: Do not buy an old house in New England that has a basement. I see no point in basements. A basement is where excess water collects and where serial killers bury their victims.

  • Published
    July 22, 2012

    ON THE EDGE: Retire as Tarzan and Jane

    Every couple of months or so, a certain conversation arises in our house, as it does in yours and most houses in Maine, Missouri, California and elsewhere. It's about retirement and what happens when the income one is accustomed to changes dramatically. This is generally referred to as a "period of adjustment."

  • Published
    July 22, 2012

    ON THE EDGE: Tarzan and Jane, sitting in a tree

    Every couple of months or so, a certain conversation arises in our house, as it does in yours and most houses in Maine, Missouri, California and elsewhere. It's about retirement and what happens when the income one is accustomed to changes dramatically. This is generally referred to as a "period of adjustment."

  • Published
    July 8, 2012

    J.P. DEVINE: Summer Pepsi nights

    July 1949: With the first paycheck from my summer job making plastic feet for shoe displays at the Johnson Shoe Company, I sauntered into the Velvet Freeze, near where the street car turned, and bought Pepsi-Colas and double orders of fries all around for the gang.

  • Published
    July 8, 2012

    Nights of Pepsi love

    July 1949: With the first paycheck from my summer job making plastic feet for shoe displays at the Johnson Shoe Co., I sauntered into the Velvet Freeze, near where the street car turned and bought Pepsi-Colas, and double orders of fries all around for the gang.

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  • Published
    July 1, 2012

    J.P. DEVINE: Couple joins ‘Gayby Boom’

    Allison Bickford is having a baby, and she’s very excited. She’s had the ultra sound magic and discovered a girl in there. (Haddie.)

  • Published
    June 24, 2012

    Start your list!

    She said to make a list. She makes lists for everything, for every venture, and then she keeps the lists long after all of the tasks are done. I think this is serial clutter, but she rarely makes mistakes, so I made a list called Summer List.

  • Published
    June 17, 2012

    J.P. DEVINE: The angst of change

    I confess. I am an animist. Animism is simply a belief that all inanimate objects, such as rocks and plants, have souls, and therefore have feelings. This includes glass beads, drift wood and old soccer balls.

  • Published
    June 17, 2012

    Being animist isn’t easy

    I confess. I am an animist. Animism is simply a belief that all inanimate objects, such as rocks and plants, have souls, and therefore have feelings. This includes glass beads, drift wood and old soccer balls.

  • Published
    June 10, 2012

    J.P. DEVINE: Ray has passed

    "Dead" is such a sharp, brittle word. "Deceased" is a morgue word, an obit phrase. The old black people of my childhood seemed to concur on "passed."