I finally caved in and told my kids we could get a cat. What a pushover, I know. But I did hold my “no pets” ground for a while. My reasons were quite clear. Or so I thought.

When you move someplace new, you're lucky if there is a moment of reassurance that yes, you're in the right place. For newcomers to Madison, that moment is likely to happen when ...

In 2002, a group of retired men began hiking together once a week in the Appalachian Mountains and started finding old, scenic trails they claimed nobody knew about.

This summer, my daughter was kissed by the sun, by nature herself. Kisses of a different kind await my newly minted teenager in the summers ahead. Probably while I'm at work ... and not watching.

You could say that the 38-year-old Mahershala Ali owes his acting career to his grandfather. A gifted athlete from Hayward, Calif., Ali attended Saint Mary’s College on a basketball scholarship.

Golf, from a distance, has always bored me. I used to drive by courses and see players tooling around in carts and leaning on clubs in their fancy pants and think, "I wonder what REAL athletes are doing today?"

Bats get a bad rap. We're supposed to fear them. Shriek and run from them. And as legend suggests--never, EVER, let them near our necks.

History was never my favorite subject in school. When you’re young and your future is spread out in front of you like dazzling jewels, the last thing you want to focus on is the past. Who can keep all those dates and bloody wars straight, anyway? So imagine my surprise when I discovered in my daughter’s last year in high school how fascinated I was by U.S. history.

He’s been called “America’s Rib King,” “The Pit Master” and you could even say he’s a grilling guru. No matter what the nickname, one thing is certain: Dave Anderson knows his barbecue!

To launch a successful business is one thing; to resurrect the human spirit in the process is what Plates Cafe & Catering in Sacramento is all about.

Houston, we have a problem. Her name is Carolyn. Carolyn is my ex-husband’s girlfriend. They live together with her two pre-teens and most likely, they’ll marry. I’m OK with that part. You know what they say: “One woman’s junk is another woman’s treasure.”

Their passion for farming began during childhood on their grandfather’s farm in Talihina, Oklahoma, where they would help plant, grow and harvest a virtual salad bowl of fresh produce, such as tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and onions, strictly for the family to enjoy.

Every kid, every day, whatever it takes. That's Rainey Briggs' motto. Thirty-seven-year-old Briggs ... is the only African American male elementary school principal in the Madison area.

Last week, my oldest daughter dropped a bombshell. She did not want to spend the night at her dad’s anymore because she doesn’t sleep well there. “It’s dark and cold” and her sister snores. To my great surprise, I was overcome with compassion for my ex.

There's an old saying, "When you try to embrace all of mankind, you sometimes forget your wife." Nothing could be further from the truth for Tommy Lasorda, baseball's favorite blue blood who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers for 20 career-defining years.

Next time you're driving westbound on Interstate 90/39, near Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison, picture this: a sprawling, state-of-the-art sports and entertainment complex that rivals the best of them ... Can you see it?

Joe Manzella loves cats, double-cut pork chops, great quotes and college football. “It’s Arizona State! Don’t say ‘Arizona,’ I’ll have a heart attack.” (One guess where he went to college.) But Manzella’s real passion is running restaurants. “I love the buzz of this business,” says the 37-year-old, somewhat-feisty proprietor of two thriving, award-winning Orange County restaurants.

If someone told you that you could make up to $200,000 a year simply by sharing your passion for hiking, telling stories by the campfire or preparing an authentic Native meal, would you do it? It’s a tempting proposition, isn’t it? That’s exactly the concept behind Airbnb’s newest sharing platform called “Experiences.”

Native American life is historically rich and incomparable. It’s no wonder more and more people want to experience it. The American Indian Alaskan Native Tourism Association reports that travelers interested in exploring Indian Country to learn about native culture and history are growing at a faster rate than regular tourists to the United States.

You finally have a diagnosis: celiac disease. You've endured a battery of tests. Made a commitment to eating gluten-free for life. And are on the road to feeling better. Now what? How often should you see a doctor for follow-up nutritional testing? And which tests are most important?