Musings from my driveway, my home and my heart
My sister Claudia spent the last three years living in Saudi Arabia, a country where women are not permitted to drive and her family did not even own a car. So when she and her husband moved back to the U.S. in June after his work assignment ended, shopping for a new vehicle was high... Continue Reading →
I took my 20-month-old granddaughter to story time last week at the local library, where the theme of the day was “cars and trucks.” Librarian Joyce peeled off yards of black sticky tape with yellow dotted lines to make a pattern of roads in the room and then hauled out tiny street signs and vehicles... Continue Reading →
Just days after the 1967 Detroit riot, my father packed up the family in his Oldsmobile and took us on a terrifying road trip to Twelfth Street, the epicenter of the civil disturbance 50 years ago this month. Faded color photos from that trip are tucked away in a family album that ended up in... Continue Reading →
My mother often brags that she has read just one book in her entire life, a young adult romance from 1942 called “Seventeenth Summer” by the author Maureen Daly. Books, to her, are dust collectors and a monumental waste of time. She reminds me a bit of the evil captain in the Jack London novel... Continue Reading →
My family spent the Fourth of July weekend with two of the stellar subcompact SUVs in the General Motors’ lineup, a test 2017 Buick Encore and our own 2017 Chevrolet Trax with its dealer-installed bike rack. They were great companions for an active extended family that did everything from fireworks to a 16-mile trek on... Continue Reading →
I found myself channeling Sister Digna, my eighth-grade science teacher at St. Mary of Redford junior high school in Detroit, as I spent a week in the 2017 Ram 2500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab 4x4. The IHM nun always preached the “gospel of respect,” especially when it came to her laboratory equipment. She didn’t want... Continue Reading →
“I’m sorry for stalking you,” said the 50-something woman in the produce department of Busch’s grocery store in my hometown. “But I noticed that cute little SUV you’re driving and I wanted to ask you about it.” She was talking about the subcompact 2017 Chevrolet Trax Premier in Crimson Metallic that I was test-driving. I’m... Continue Reading →
Most weeks I find myself chauffeuring everyone from my one-year-old granddaughter Eleanor to my 93-year-old father Chester, the retired Detroit vice cop. So what’s the perfect vehicle for this challenging life-stage? A 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Platinum, the first electrified minivan sold in the U.S. My parents love to get in on vehicle reviews, but... Continue Reading →
When my mother-in-law Audrey Lienert died peacefully in a Michigan hospice on June 23, 2016, she was dressed in a new lavender nightgown and had freshly manicured nails. Her room was filled with objects that defined her, including a flowered straw hat and a picture of her looking like a young Judy Garland in her... Continue Reading →
My 18-month-old granddaughter Eleanor got her first set of wheels on Easter Sunday 2017 — a Little Tykes 4x4 pickup that should make her the envy of her playgroup. I wished my late father-in-law Bob Lienert, the former editor of Automotive News, could have seen the delighted expression on her face when she saw the... Continue Reading →
Anita's Way 