Charest Family on the Web Posts

Year Of The Goat
Year Of The Goat

Today is the New Year’s celebration for about one-quarter of the world’s population, as celebrated by Chinese and other Asian cultures. It’s the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.

Family Stories

A Nice Scam
A Nice Scam

Winnie and I were targeted for a rather slick scam recently but managed to avoid losing money. It was an interesting scam that started with a spam e-mail inviting me to do some “Secret Shopper” work.

Family Stories

New Year 2015
New Year 2015

For the first post of this brave new year of 2015 CE, I’d like to wish all my readers a year of good heath, happiness, and prosperity.

Family Stories

Opinions & Commentary

We had a very different Christmas celebration this year. In the past we’ve normally celebrated Christmas at home, with the exception of a few years in a row when we went up to Mom’s house in New York. Staying at home was the preferred option as the Charest family is currently spread out from Washington, California, Tennessee, Northern Virginia, and on out to Wales. However, this year the stars aligned and we all descended upon Tennessee for a very Charest family reunion Christmas celebration.

Family Stories

Hands Up Don't Shoot
Hands Up Don’t Shoot

Unless you’re fortunate enough to live in a news-media free wilderness you’ve heard about the Michael Brown shooting in the town of Ferguson, Missouri, a place most Americans outside of St. Louis never heard of before last summer. Accounts and opinions are raging across the political spectrum, and I’ve been sorting out my emotions triggered by this disgraceful event.

Opinions & Commentary

Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving day again; another year passed remembering the good and the bad. Thanksgiving continues to be my favorite holiday, and one thing I’m thankful for is that this holiday has remained relatively commercial-free. This is and should be the one day each each when families and friends come together to celebrate, reflect on the year passed, and give thanks for their many blessings. Then eat a lot of turkey-based foods.

Family Stories

Emmigration Around The World in 1885
Emigration Around the World in 1885

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

This past week President Obama went live on prime-time television (with some notable exceptions) and announced he was directing his cabinets to make some minor changes in the way people who crossed over into our part of planet earth were treated. Notable was that we, a culture that boasts about being a nation of immigrants, would no longer gratuitously tear apart families and deport parents of legal American citizens back to the countries they originated from.

Which leads me to share some thoughts on immigration.

Opinions & Commentary

Helping Hands
Helping Hands

I’ve had the unpleasant experience of breaking down on the road three times over the past 45 days. In two of those three events my venerable 2004 Rodeo died right at a stoplight intersection at or close to the front of the line. In those events, I witnessed firsthand the absolute unpleasantness of other drivers who were momentarily inconvenienced by my breakdown.

Opinions & Commentary

Apples In A Basket

It’s autumn again and along with the beautiful forest colors, changing of the clocks, and leaves to rake, autumn brings us apple season. Full disclosure; of the many fruits I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy apples are my favorite.

Opinions & Commentary